Pistons win six straight; defensive streak ends

Rasheed Wallace collected 16 points and eight rebounds and Richard Hamilton chipped in 15 points and nine boards for Detroit, which has won six in a row and 10 of its last 11 contests.

Ben Wallace had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Pistons, who came within one second of holding their sixth straight opponent under 70 points.

Richard Jefferson paced New Jersey with 19 points. Kerry Kittles and Kenyon Martin each netted 13 points for the Nets, who have dropped two of their last three games.

Mehmet Okur’s layup with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter staked Detroit to a 68-49 advantage.

The Nets then stormed back. Jefferson’s jumper culminated a 14-2 burst that pulled New Jersey within 70-63 with 5:44 left in the fourth period.

However, Rasheed Wallace answered with a three-pointer and Corliss Williamson followed with consecutive baskets for the Pistons to push the margin back to 14 at 77-63 with 4:26 remaining.

After Jefferson sank a pair of foul shots, Rasheed Wallace nailed another three-point shot to ignite an 11-0 spurt that gave Detroit a commanding 88-65 advantage with 2:18 left.

Aaron Williams’ tip-in for New Jersey with one second remaining accounted for the final margin and snapped the Pistons’ NBA record streak of yielding less than 70 points at five games. Williams pumped his fist after the basket.

"Maybe that was bigger to them than winning the game. That’s what it seemed like to us," said Rasheed Wallace. "They were down there cheering, so hey, let them worry about that. We got what we came for."

New Jersey took control early, scoring eight of the first 10 points of the game. The Nets still led by six at 15-9, before Detroit went on a 6-0 run to tie it.

The Pistons, behind nine points from Hamilton, led 20-19 after 12 minutes and then opened the second quarter with a 15-6 spurt, keyed by six points from Mike James, to take a 35-25 advantage.

Detroit continued to pour it on and stretched the lead to 48-29 on a three- pointer by Billups with 2:37 left in the period. The Pistons eventually carried a 54-35 advantage into the locker room.

Detroit was 12-of-21 from the floor in the second stanza and outscored New Jersey 34-16. Hamilton and Billups each netted 11 points in the first half, while Jefferson led the Nets in the opening 24 minutes with 12.

"There was a period in the second quarter when we defended as well as you could ever defend," said Detroit head coach Larry Brown.