"Call it the showdown that didn't go down. Or maybe the Palace Bawl.

Whatever you call Wednesday night's game between the Pistons and Celtics, it's safe to say Charlie Villanueva won by technical knockout.

What was expected to be a bad-blood rematch between Charlie Villanueva and Kevin Garnett instead became an anticlimactic undercard to the main event: a 104-92 beatdown the Pistons put on Boston at the Palace.

The victory snapped a two-game losing streak, a three-game losing streak to Boston and avenged the 109-86 thrashing the Celtics delivered on Nov. 2. And it was during that last loss that all the acrimony began between Villanueva and Garnett.

But it all ended prematurely when Garnett left the game nearly in tears with a lower right leg injury late in the first quarter. Villanueva got two quick fouls and rode the bench for most of the first quarter.

All told, Villanueva and Garnett spent only the first 2 minutes, 57 seconds of the game on the floor together. Garnett scored two points in nine minutes. Villanueva had 14 points in 28 minutes.

Villanueva had been upset after he accused Garnett of calling him a "cancer patient" in the Nov. 2 game. Garnett later claimed he said Villanueva was "cancerous to your team." Villanueva has alopecia universalis, a medical condition that results in hair loss.

Villanueva didn't waste time and was called for a foul on Garnett just 10 seconds into the game.

"I just went out there and tried to be physical, tried to be felt right away," said Villanueva, who did not acknowledge Garnett before the game. "I think I got he message across."

Villanueva was slapped with his second foul at 9:12. He went to the bench at 9:03 and missed the rest of the first quarter."