There is no doubt that the Detroit Pistons are primed for their first-place grudge match against the Milwaukee Bucks Sunday afternoon at the Bradley Center. As far as the Bucks go . . . who knows?

The Pistons recall only too well the first time they played the Bucks this season, and Milwaukee handled them easily, 97-79, in a Jan. 21 Martin Luther King Day matinee in Detroit. Since then the Pistons have been on a roll, winning 12 of 14 games and have climbed into a tie for first place with the Bucks in the Central Division of the National Basketball Association.

"It should be a fun game," said Detroit's Jerry Stackhouse after the Pistons won Friday in Toronto for a franchise-record seventh straight road victory. "We didn't play well the last time we played them and we'd like to change that."

Where the Bucks are at these days is anyone's guess.