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Richard Hamilton scored 18 points for Detroit, and Tayshaun Prince added 17 to help the Pistons hand the Spurs their third home loss of the season and second in a row.
Tim Duncan had 24 points and 15 rebounds for San Antonio, and Tony Parker added 12 points as he struggled from the field, going 4-of-13.
Detroit snapped a two-game losing streak that followed an 11-game winning streak. The Pistons lost 102-86 in Dallas on Wednesday night.
The marquee matchup between the defending champion Spurs, currently second in the West, and the 2004 champion Pistons, second in the East, looked more like a dud for most of the night.
Not only were the Spurs having trouble creating offense, partly because they couldn't hold onto the ball and committed 15 turnovers, they weren't getting stops, either.
The Pistons had their way with San Antonio nearly every trip down the court. Whether cutting to the basket or hitting long jumpers and a couple of 3s, Detroit built its lead to as many as 20 points. The Pistons kept the lead for good after going ahead 16-15 with 3:30 left in the first quarter off of Hamilton's fast-break layup.
The Spurs were within nine with a quarter to play after closing in during the third, but Detroit built the lead back up to 14.
Lindsey Hunter's fast-break layup, before which he looked back to see that he was all alone and could slow it down on the way to the basket, gave Detroit a 78-64 lead with 6:08 to play.
Parker's 3-point play brought San Antonio within nine, and a free throw from Manu Ginobili as Antonio McDyess fouled out made it 82-74 with 2:30 to go.
But Chauncey Billups hit an easy, and key, layup off a pass from Hamilton to put Detroit up again by 10. Wallace hit another easy layup with 1:30 to go to give Detroit an 88-76 lead and put the game away. After that, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took out most of his starters.
Detroit went on a 16-0 run over 3:30 to close the first quarter, and by the end of the period had scored twice as many points as the Spurs and were up 30-15.
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The Pistons stayed ahead by the same margin by the end of the second as they held a commanding 54-39 halftime lead over the struggling Spurs, who scored consecutive baskets just once during the second quarter and were outrebounded 18-14 in the half.
By the time 2:41 was left on the clock in the third, the Spurs cut their deficit to single digits for the first time since late in the opening period after being down by as many as 20 earlier. Duncan further reduced the margin, to 63-56, with his dunk off a pass from Manu Ginobili.
Indeed it was Duncan, the only San Antonio in the double digits by the time three quarters were gone, who kept the Spurs alive. He had 10 points in the third.
By contrast, Detroit was leveling a balanced attack on the home team. Hamilton, Wallace and Prince combined for 46 points for Detroit heading into the fourth quarter, when Detroit started out with a 67-58 advantage.
Notes: G Brent Barry of the Spurs remained out with a torn muscle in his left calf. Popovich said Barry will be out another week at the most. ...
On Thursday the Spurs signed G-F Jeremy Richardson. ... Popovich will have to wait at least until Saturday for his 600th career victory. ... Before the game, Detroit coach Flip Saunders said of Wallace, who was averaging 12.8 points heading into Thursday: "I don't think we can just judge him by what he's doing offensively as far as on whether he's ready to play. Because I think even when he hasn't been good offensively at times, he's always been there and done things from a defensive standpoint."
[Associated Press; By ELIZABETH WHITE]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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