NBA Game Summary - San Antonio at Detroit

Auburn Hills, MI (Basketball News) - Chauncey Billups and Lindsey Hunter led seven Pistons in double figures with 17 points each as Detroit evened the NBA Finals at two games apiece with a 102-71 victory over San Antonio in Game 4 at The Palace.

"I really believe in all honesty that this is probably the best game a team that I’ve been involved with in such an important game has ever played," said Pistons head coach Larry Brown. "I told you after game 3 that we had to play our best game to win and this was a pretty special game. We had seven guys take double-figure shots, we had four turnovers, we didn’t foul, we rebounded effectively."

Rasheed Wallace added 14 and Antonio McDyess and Tayshaun Prince contributed 13 each for the Pistons, who have won two straight at home after falling behind in the series with a pair of losses in Texas. Detroit posted an easy 97-76 in Tuesday’s Game 3.

Richard Hamilton (12) and Ben Wallace (11) were the other Pistons in double figures.

Game 5 is set for Sunday at The Palace.

Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 16 points and 16 rebounds. San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili, who had averaged 26.5 points per game in the first two contests, had just 12 in Game 4 after scoring only seven points in Game 3.

"I’m just not finding my way to the basket," said Ginobili. "They are collapsing a lot in the lane and when we move the ball it’s just not there. We’re not finding the open shots that were game in Game 1 and 2."

A jumper by Rasheed Wallace four minutes into the contest gave Detroit an 8-7 lead and the Pistons would not trail again. The lead grew to 18-10 on a basket by Billups with 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the opening frame, but a 7-2 run by San Antonio trimmed the lead to three. The Spurs would not be as close again.

A three-pointer by Rasheed Wallace just before the buzzer gave Detroit a 23-17 lead after 12 minutes. The Pistons then began the second quarter by scoring 11 unanswered points to open a 34-17 advantage.

Detroit, which shot a sizzling 47 percent from the field in the opening half, maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way. The Pistons went to the locker room with a 51-36 lead, behind 11 points from Billups.

Duncan had 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead San Antonio through two quarters, but the Spurs shot just 35 percent from the floor.

The Spurs came out of the break with a sense of determination, as driving layups by Ginobili and Bruce Bowen cut the Detroit lead to 11. The Pistons, though, remained in command.

A block by Rasheed Wallace on the defensive end led to a fast-break dunk by Prince for a 59-42 advantage with eight minutes left in the third quarter. A three-point play by Hunter with just less than four minutes to play in the frame put Detroit up 68-49. A basket by McDyess with one minute to go in the third restored the 19-point lead and the Pistons took a 74-57 advantage into the final frame.

A basket by McDyess early in the fourth quarter gave Detroit a 78-58 advantage and the lead grew to 24 points several times in the final frame.

Carlos Arroyo scored the final points of the contest in the closing seconds to give Detroit its biggest lead of the game.

"One needs to credit their defense," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. "It was great. They were physcial and got us on our heels again. We reacted poorly to it, and you see the result."