Pistons beat shorthanded Sixers

Prince finished 9-of-13 from the floor and Wallace shot 8-of-14 while grabbing 11 rebounds.

Allen Iverson, who leads the Sixers in scoring and assists, missed the game after having surgery to remove an abscessed wisdom tooth. Chris Webber also sat out for the second straight game with stiffness in his back.

Richard Hamilton had 16 points and Chauncey Billups added 11 and dished out 11 assists for the Pistons, who have won four straight against Philadelphia.

Detroit shot 50 percent from the field.

Willie Green scored a career-high 24 points on 10-of-21 shooting and Andre Iguodala and Kyle Korver contributed 13 apiece for the Sixers, who have dropped three in a row and six of their last seven games. Kevin Ollie had 11 points and Samuel Dalembert pulled down 15 boards in the loss.

Detroit opened the contest with an 11-4 spurt, capped by Prince’s running dunk. The Sixers kept it close and got within two, 17-15 on a Shavlik Randolph free throw with 3:10 remaining, but Wallace’s three and layups by Hamilton and Prince put the Pistons up by five after one.

A pair of free throws by Hamilton gave the Pistons a nine-point edge late in the second, Detroit maintained its lead and closed out the half with a 46-39 advantage. Prince finished with 10 points in the first half while Iguodala, Korver and Randolph each had eight for the Sixers.

The Pistons went on a 13-4 run in the last five minutes of third to go up by 12. Prince had four points while Antonio McDyess hit two free throws and a layup to finish up the quarter.

Philadelphia could only get as close as six, 78-72 with 8:48 left in the fourth, but Detroit followed by scoring eight consecutive points with the help of Wallace’s two jumpers. From there, the Sixers were never able to overcome the double-digit deficit.

Philadelphia finished 39.5 percent (30-for-76) shooting.

Game Notes

The Pistons have won nine of the last 10 meetings...Detroit improved to 3-3 on the road this season...Randolph finished with nine points and nine rebounds...Dalembert scored eight points...Both teams shot 43 percent from three-point range...Philadelphia travels to Milwaukee on Wednesday, while Detroit hosts Atlanta.