Billups leads Pistons over Wizards

Billups missed just one of his 19 foul shots and finished with seven assists, as the Pistons won their sixth straight game. Tayshaun Prince added 21 points for Detroit, which beat the Wizards for the 16th time in the last 20 meetings.

"Playing four games in five days, I think the one thing I didn’t expect would be for us to be as good offensively as we were," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "But offensively we executed. We got the ball to people and we made plays."

Gilbert Arenas had 28 points and 10 assists, but also turned the ball over seven times for the Wizards, who suffered their fourth consecutive defeat and were beaten for the seventh time in eight contests.

"I went 1 for 12 last night; that doesn’t happen often, but it happened," Arenas said. "Tonight we saw a great team. They had four guys who played in the All-Star game last year. They know how to play and they know how to win. We came out flat and were fighting back the whole night."

Caron Butler ended with 25 points and Antawn Jamison contributed 22 before fouling out for Washington.

The Pistons held a 90-79 lead going into the fourth quarter and widened that margin to 14 points on a Prince jumper less than two minutes into the period.

Butler’s bucket capped a 19-5 spurt for Washington, closing the gap to 99-94 with 5:18 remaining. However, Billups made two free throws and Ronald Murray’s basket gave the Pistons a nine-point cushion.

The Wizards got no closer than four the rest of the way, the last time at 113-109 on DeShawn Stevenson’s tip-in with 11.6 seconds left. However, Billups drained two more free throws to seal the victory.

Richard Hamilton posted 18 points and Rasheed Wallace scored 13 for Detroit.

Stevenson ended with 15 points.

It was a power-packed first quarter, with the Wizards holding a 35-34 lead after 12 minutes. Washington scored seven of the first nine points and led by as many as nine in the quarter.

The Pistons scored the first eight of the second quarter and forged a 62-58 edge at the half.

Game Notes

Detroit has won 12 of its last 18 at Washington...The Wizards held a 42-35 edge on the boards.