"When it comes to placing things in their proper perspective, Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince usually has a panoramic view.

Weeks after declaring, "I thought we would be better," Prince kept a calm head after the Pistons won their fourth straight game and moved to the verge of their first five-game winning streak since early in the 2009-10 season.

"Just because we've won four straight doesn't mean it's peaches and cream," Prince said. "We still have to develop chemistry over a period of time."

Part of the problem for the Pistons thus far was their inability to sustain runs and even if Prince wanted to be skeptical about everything, he can't deny that his team now is giving the punches instead of taking them.

"I've seen improvement as far as when teams make a run on us, we've been able to respond," said Prince, who's averaging 15 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists this month.

"We've played some solid defense and pushed it. We haven't run plays a lot, we've tried to attack early — that's opened up a lot of things for us the last few games."

Prince explained his feelings of frustration with the way things were going early on, which were directed at no one in particular. He wasn't taking a shot at coach Lawrence Frank or any of his teammates; it was probably just that the lockout affected things in a way Prince didn't expect.

"I expected us to play faster, to force some turnovers and just go," Prince said. "When that happens, they can open up things for you. We played so much slower."