Detroit Pistons playing final game at The Palace tonight

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (WJBK) - The Detroit Pistons are playing their final game tonight at The Palace of Auburn Hills. After this season -- they're headed for Detroit. 

When The Palace opened on November 5, 1988, it was a state-of-the-art venue and still is to this day. The team could probably get another ten years out of this building, but they're moving downtown to the new Little Caesars Arena along with the Detroit Red Wings.

This building has seen just as much history as the Joe Louis Arena.

"For this arena to have 3 NBA Championships when so many arenas never had an opportunity to see anything like this is just amazing," says former Pistons Earl Cureton. "Tonight's going to be an amazing night when all those guys come back into the building."

Going back to 1988 when it opened, the team started a string of 245 consecutive sell-outs.

"The Bad Boys are just historical from their days of playing. The toughness and the hardnose basketball of Mahorn and Isiah Thomas. It was just exciting to watch basketball. That was just the way the game should have been played," says Cureton.

Then there was a little bit of a lull, but the Goin' to Work Pistons brought on 259 consecutive sell-outs as part of the 2004 NBA Championship that saw 6 consecutive Eastern Conference finals appearances.

Cureton has his fair share if history at The Palace, too. He was part of the first event.

"We put together an All Star team to play against the Olympians. George Thompson was coaching that team, and it was the last team that played without pros. It was Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, John Salley, Dennis Rodman, Herb Williams, Reggie Miller; we all put this team together and played against the Olympian team. That was the very first event played at The Palace," he says. Fun fact -- Cureton also played the first event at the Joe Louis Arena with the University of Detroit Michigan.

Hockeytown closes out Joe Louis Arena with red carpet send-off

You can hear more from Cureton in the video player above.

Fans attending tonight's game against the Washington Wizards will all get a commemorative ticket featuring some of the great moments in Pistons history, and a T-shirt draped over all the chairs. The T-shirt features the name of every Pistons player who ever played at The Palace. 

A Walk down Memory Lane will happen at half time. Many Pistons greats are expected to be in attendance, with the exception of Joe Dumars.

Tickets are no longer available online, but may be available at the box office or on secondhand ticket exchange sites.