Richard Hamilton

Richard Hamilton scores 26 points as Pistons top Bobcats 104 95

Flip Saunders' recent post-game pep talk to Carlos Delfino wasn't complicated.

Keep playing with energy, the second-year Detroit Pistons coach told his reserve guard, and the playing time will take care of itself.

And when given the chance Friday night, Delfino made the most of his opportunity, fuelling a fourth-quarter scoring surge in a 104-95 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

``He's getting confidence in himself, the guys he's playing with are getting confidence in him and it gives us a lot of flexibility,'' Saunders said. ``When we go small, we're pretty good.''

Richard Hamilton scored 26 points for the Pistons, who have won five straight. Tayshaun Prince added 21 and Rasheed Wallace had 19.

Emeka Okafor had 23 points and Brevin Knight 16 for the Bobcats, who led 80-76 early in the fourth quarter. But the Pistons scored eight straight points, capped by Delfino's reverse lay-up with 7:04 remaining, to regain the lead for good.

The Pistons led 52-49 at halftime.

The Bobcats got within 86-85 on Adam Morrison's three-pointer, but Chauncey Billups' three-pointer and Delfino's dunk again provided the Pistons with breathing room. Wallace made a three-pointer with 2:27 remaining that extended the lead to 98-89.

``(Detroit's) a well-balanced basketball team,'' Charlotte coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. ``We made some critical mistakes. We had some shots that weren't the best and we turned the ball over in critical times.''

The Pistons took advantage, outscoring Charlotte 30-27 in the fourth quarter. Detroit recovered from a sluggish start in which it committed turnovers on three of its first four possessions.

``We're still not executing as good as we could. We've got some lapses throughout the game,'' Billups said. ``But our effort is good every single night.''

And win streak or not, that's all Saunders expects.

``We could win 10 in a row and there's always room for improvement,'' Saunders said. ``Winning five (straight) games _ what that does mean _ is that your guys are doing some things and they're executing.''

Hamilton scores 30 as Pistons beat Rockets 104 92

Richard Hamilton is trying something new this weekend.

So far, he and his Detroit Pistons teammates are very happy with the results.

Hamilton scored 30 points and Chauncey Billups added 23 to help Detroit beat the Houston Rockets 104-92 Saturday night.

Instead of gradually working his way into the flow of a game, Hamilton has tried attacking the basket from the opening tip, and it has resulted in 57 points in a pair of victories.

``I'm always in a comfort level, but this is about being aggressive right out of the gate,'' he said. ``I'm going hard, instead of waiting for it.''

The Pistons (5-5) have won two straight to get back to .500 after their worst start in six years.

``This team is still finding its identity,'' Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. ``We felt like we might go through some tough times early, because of our schedule. But it is good to see that the starters are getting into a rhythm, and that we're only a game or two behind where we had hoped to be.''

Houston (6-4) had won five of six.

The teams traded the lead through the early portions of the fourth quarter, but the Pistons took control with a 17-2 run that gave them a 98-85 lead with 3:18 left.

``I'm very disappointed,'' Houston's Tracy McGrady said. ``We talked about it, and we know what the problem is, because it has been the same thing all the time. We give ourselves a chance to win on the road, and then we lose it in the fourth quarter.''

Rasheed Wallace and Flip Murray each had six points in the surge.

Murray hasn't gotten much playing time as Hamilton's backup, but Detroit went with a three-guard offence in Saturday's fourth quarter.

``I just want to be a spark,'' he said. ``When I come into the game, I'm trying to create havoc on both ends of the floor.''

Wallace finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit and Tayshaun Prince scored 15 points.

Yao Ming scored 33 points and added 16 rebounds. McGrady added 25 points for Houston, but no other Rockets player reached double figures.

``We think we can do some things better,'' Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said. ``We were up two going into the fourth, and we didn't rebound, we didn't shoot and we had a number of turnovers. They made it hard on us, but we didn't make it very hard on them.''

The Pistons looked comfortable early, but Houston went on a 20-1 run that spanned the first and second quarters. The Rockets held the Pistons without a field goal for nearly eight minutes, and it spurred them to a 52-50 halftime lead.

Yao had 19 in the half and McGrady added 17 before picking up his third foul in the last seconds of the second quarter.

The game remained close for the entire third quarter. Detroit went ahead 74-72 on a late dunk by Prince, but the Rockets moved back into a 78-76 lead at the end of the period.

Notes: Prince hit a medium-range jumper at the first-half buzzer to get Detroit within two. ... The game was announced as the 141st straight sellout at the Palace, but there were noticeable gaps in the crowd on the evening of the Michigan-Ohio State game. ... The Pistons' bench was given a technical foul in the second quarter, and when Leon Washington was asked who it was on, he replied ``All of them!'' The technical was eventually credited to Wallace, his fifth of the young season, but the Pistons felt it should have been called on assistant coach Ron Harper and have appealed to the league office.

Hamilton, Wallace join forces to lead Pistons to 100 91 win over Wizards

Richard Hamilton scored 27 points and Rasheed Wallace added 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Detroit Pistons ended a two-game losing streak with a 100-91 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

Hamilton hit 11 of a career high-tying 27 shots to help Detroit to improve to 4-5 in its first season without Ben Wallace. Last season, the Pistons started 35-5 and went on to lose to Miami in the Eastern Conference final.

Tayshaun Prince added 20 points for Detroit, which trailed by nine points in the first half before dominating the last two periods.

Caron Butler had 24 points and Gilbert Arenas added 20 for Washington, which has lost three straight. Arenas has been held under 30 points in each of the Wizards' last four games, one more than his longest streak of last season.