AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Ben Wallace heeded his teammates'
advice and took more shots for himself.
It paid off Wednesday night, when Wallace scored 21 points and
had 18 rebounds to help the Detroit Pistons reduce their magic
number for clinching the Central Division title to four with a
105-93 victory over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.
"Everyone on the team has been telling me to shoot the ball
more, so I figured they must know something," Wallace said.
"They've been doing a great job of getting me the ball where I can
do something with it instead of just being an emergency option."
Even after two seasons together, Wallace is still impressing
coach Larry Brown. The All-Star has now scored in double figures in
five straight games.
"He was sensational tonight," Brown said. "He did
everything."
Detroit has won four straight and leads second-place Chicago by
five games. It was Brown's 101st win as Pistons coach, breaking
Rick Carlisle's team record of 100 over his first two seasons with
Detroit.
The Wizards have lost three in a row and had a three-game road
winning streak snapped.
"We played a team that was better than we are," Wizards coach
Eddie Jordan said. "My guys played hard, but we just got beat by a
better team."
Larry Hughes disagreed.
"I never think that any particular team is better than we
are," he said. "They are a great team, but our job is to go out
and win games, and never feel like anybody is better than we are."
Washington was missing Antawn Jamison (knee), who sat out one
day after scoring 30 points in his return from the injured list.
Jamison is doubtful for Friday's game in Indiana.
"I don't know if he'll play, but I don't think so," Jordan
said.
Tayshaun Prince added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Pistons,
while Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess scored 19 each in
Detroit's 10th straight win over the Wizards.
Hughes had 28 points and Gilbert Arenas added 19.
Wallace had a career-best 13-point first quarter, including a
rare 3-pointer to beat the shot clock.
"With the shot clock running down, that's an easy shot to
take," Wallace said. "Usually, it doesn't go in, though."
Wallace claimed that the 26-foot bank shot was intentional, but
his teammates disagreed.
"I don't care what he says," Lindsey Hunter said. "He didn't
mean to do that."
Game notes
The fans set an unofficial world record of 6,638 people
wearing wigs at the same time in the second quarter. The current
Guinness record is 6,213, set in a Pistons game last season. ...
Both teams wore 1970s-era throwback jerseys, and Detroit rocker
Mitch Ryder performed at halftime. Another local 1970s star, Bob
Seger, was in the crowd. ... Wallace made his first 3-pointer of
the season and just the fourth of his career. He's never had more
than one in a season. ... Hunter had a career-high three blocks.