Chauncey Billups

Billups turns it on in fourth quarter to lead Pistons over Cavs 87 71

For three quarters, Chauncey Billups was missing.

Mr. Big Shot arrived in the fourth.

Billups made his first three jumpers of the final period, leading the Detroit Pistons to an 87-71 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night in the first matchup between the clubs since last season's playoffs.

Billups, who was just 1-of-9 from the floor after three quarters, dropped three jumpers _ two of them three-pointers _ in the first 3:02 of the fourth as the Pistons went on a 14-3 run to open a 71-58 lead with 8:19 left.

``That's Big Shot Billups at his best,'' LeBron James said. ``Fourth quarter, time to take over.''

Billups scored 17 points, including 12 in the fourth, and added 10 assists, including four of those the last 12 minutes against a Cavaliers team that was defenceless to stop him.

``They saw me missing shots early and let their guard down a little,'' he said. ``That's when I attacked.

``That's how I play.''

Tayshaun Prince had 16 points and Antonio McDyess added a season-high 11 points _ all in the fourth _ and 11 rebounds for the Pistons, who overwhelmed the Cavs in the final period, outscoring them 30-16 and holding them to 3-of-16 shooting.

James had 26 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 points for the Cavaliers, who dropped to 11-3 at home.

In last season's second round, Cleveland won three straight over Detroit and had a chance to close out the Pistons in Game 6 but couldn't come up with an offensive rebound in the closing seconds. The Cavs then lost Game 7 in Auburn Hills, Mich., when the Pistons dominated the second half in a 79-61 win.

This one followed a similar script as the Pistons made the big shots, tightened their defence down the stretch and showed the Cavs why they're still one of the NBA's most feared teams.

``They're still a powerhouse,'' James said. ``They're still No. 1 in the Eastern Conference.''

After Billups' second three-pointer put the Pistons up 69-58 with 8:58 remaining, he whipped a behind-the-back bounce pass to Jason Maxiell, whose baseline jumper put Detroit ahead by 13 points, forced a timeout by Cleveland and sent Detroit's bench bounding onto the floor for high-fives and chest bumps.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers couldn't do anything against Detroit's defence, which locked down on James (he went 1-for-6 in the fourth), forcing Cleveland's other players to step up. None of them could.

``We changed our looks and dictated the tempo of the game,'' Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. ``It was played how we wanted.''

Leading 57-55 after three quarters, the Pistons made seven of their first eight shots to open the fourth, a flurry that left the Cavaliers dazed and stunned a sellout crowd of 20,562 fans.

``We got our behinds kicked,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ``We competed in the first half.

``In the fourth quarter, when the game got tight Detroit turned it up a notch. We gave into their pressure.''

Neither team could get anything going on offence in the third. The Pistons outscored the Cavs 15-14 to take their two-point lead entering the final 12 minutes.

The lone highlight for Cleveland came on an alley-oop dunk by a trailing James, who one-handed a pass from Eric Snow and rocketed it through the rim.

James had a little extra bounce in his step from the outset. He scored 12 points _ eight straight in the final 2:24 _ and went 6-of-7 from the floor in the first quarter as the Cavaliers took a 24-22 lead.

It was a far cry from his postseason exit in May when the Pistons shut him down in the second half of Game 7, holding him to two points on 1-of-9 shooting.

Detroit did a better job defensively on James in the second, limiting him to just two shots while holding Cleveland to 17 points and taking a 42-41 half-time lead.

Notes: James is wearing a sleeve on his right arm because of a soreness in his elbow. He's also sporting a small support band on his left knee. ``I'm a little banged up,'' he said. ``It's a little tender.'' . . . Kid Rock sat courtside next to Detroit's bench . . . Pistons G Lindsey Hunter missed his seventh straight game with a sore right Achilles . . . Cavs G Damon Jones left in the fourth quarter with back spasms . . . Browns WR Braylon Edwards, a Detroit native, chatted with some of the Pistons near the scorer's table in the final minutes.

Billups scores 27 points, 11 assists as Pistons punish Nets 90 82

Playing without Rasheed Wallace, the Detroit Pistons stayed close and then turned things over to Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton.

It's a strategy that has produced a lot of wins in recent years.

Billups had 27 points, 11 assists and two of his five steals late and Hamilton scored 26 points and hit a go-ahead basket with 1:35 to play to lead the Pistons to a 90-82 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday night.

``With three or four minutes left in the game, we just feel great about our chances,'' said Billups after the Pistons won for the eighth time in 11 games. ``New Jersey made a run to tie the game and we just felt now was the time to buckle down, get the shots we want and play defence. If the shots didn't go in that's fine, but that's a situation we like.''

Billups gave much of the credit for the win to the Pistons bench, which did well with Wallace sidelined with a sore ankle. The unlikely lineup of Will Blalock, Jason Maxiell, Flip Murray, Carlos Delfino and Hamilton led a 9-2 fourth-quarter spurt that gave the Pistons a 78-71 lead with 7:07 to play.

``That was unbelievable,'' said Billups, who rested for the first 6:29 of the final quarter. ``They won the game for us. That allowed me to come in fresh.''

Nenad Krstic had a season-high 27 points for the Nets, who lost their second game in as many night. Jason Kidd added 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and Vince Carter had 12 points on 5-of-21 shooting.

``We were right there but a lot of unfortunate things happened to us that we could not recover from,'' Carter said.

The Nets seemed in good position when Kidd hit a three-pointer with 2:26 to tie the game at 82, and then Detroit's Tayshaun Prince missed a shot.

On the Nets' next possession, however, Billups stole a Richard Jefferson pass and came down the court and found Hamilton coming off a baseline screen for the go-ahead basket.

``We run that in crunch time,'' Hamilton said. ``I just try to gather myself and make a play at the basket.''

Carter missed a running five-footer and complained about the lack of a call by the officials. Billups then pushed the lead to 86-82 with a bank shot.

Prince partially blocked a three-pointer by Kidd and Carter got the offensive rebound. However, Billups stole the ball again and scored on a fastbreak for an 88-82 lead with 50.4 seconds left.

Hamilton added two final free throws for Detroit which scored the final eight points.

``We had the momentum for a split second at 82-82 and then they came back scored and we get a great look and it doesn't go in for us,'' Kidd said. ``From that point we were going uphill with not that much time left.''

Notes: The game was the nightcap of a day-night, NHL-NBA ``Motown'' doubleheader at the Continental Airlines Arena. The Detroit Red Wings beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 in a 1 p.m. A crew took three hours to cover the ice with a basketball floor. ... Nets F Clifford, who sidelined with a knee injury, celebrated his 40th birthday. ... Blalock made his NBA debut, scoring two points in 12 minutes. ... Jefferson had 11 points and a season-high eight assists in returning to the lineup after missing a game with a sore ankle.

Chauncey Billups's scores season high 31 to help Pistons down Magic 87 83

The Detroit Pistons had too much late-game experience for the improving Orlando Magic.

Chauncey Billups scored a season-high 31 points to lead the Pistons to their second impressive road win in two nights, an 87-83 victory over Orlando on Friday night.

Playing the Eastern Conference-leading Magic (14-7), the former champions solved some early ball control problems and took advantage of three Orlando turnovers in four late possessions. In a 33-second span, Richard Hamilton turned two of those mistakes into four Detroit points that gave the Pistons the lead for good.

``We've been in a million games like this, where it comes down to the last four or five minutes,'' said Billups, who shot 11-of-16 despite a hamstring injury. ``We just stay poised out there.''

The Pistons (13-7) beat the Dallas Mavericks 92-82 on Thursday night. Orlando has lost two in a row and three of its last four.

The Magic maintained a slim fourth-quarter lead most of the way despite missing nine of their first 11 shots in the period.

Flip Murray put Detroit up 82-80, its first lead since 8:01 in the third quarter, on a 12-foot turnaround jumper with about 2:30 left.

``Right now, they are the best team in the Eastern Conference,'' Billups said. ``We knew they were going to come out fresh.

``They made a quick run and we withstood that.''

Dwight Howard, celebrating his 21st birthday, had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Orlando. Grant Hill had 12 points and four assists and Trevor Ariza scored 10 points.

``I just think that we didn't make shots that we should have made,'' Howard said. ``We had a couple turnovers that gave them the game.

``I don't like losing, period, but we've got a game tomorrow.''

Hamilton finished with 14 points and a season-high 10 rebounds, Rasheed Wallace had 13 points and six assists and Murray had 13 points.

Billups scored 16 of Detroit's 26 third-quarter points, hitting 5-of-6 from the floor. The last bucket was an 18-foot jumper with 0.6 seconds left in the period.

``Sometimes when you're not 100 per cent you have a tendency to slow down a little bit and almost play better at times, because as you slow down your mind slows down and things become a little clearer,'' Pistons coach Flip Saunders said.

Both teams struggled from the free throw line, hitting just 65 per cent. Howard, ordinarily one of the Magic's worst shooters from the line, went 11-of-13.

``In a close game we can't miss 12 free throws and expect to be in the game at the end,'' Magic coach Brian Hill said.

Leading by three points at the end of the first quarter, the Magic expanded their lead to eight while resting all of their starters in the second quarter. But Murray led the Pistons back with six points on a 10-2 run over 3:09 that tied it 33-33.

Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu was carried off the court in the first quarter after spraining his right ankle. Turkoglu appeared to step on Tayshaun Prince's foot going for a rebound with 1{ minutes left in the period. Ariza played heavily in his absence and hit 4-of-5 from the field, but missed five of his seven free throws.

Notes: Pistons G Lindsey Hunter (sprained left ankle) missed his second straight game. ... Detroit, averaging a league-low 12 turnovers, had nine in the first half, but finished with 13 to Orlando's 14. ... The Pistons made 6-of-12 from three-point range, compared with 3-of-13 for the Magic.