Washington
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Chauncey Billups continued his scoring tear at the expense of the Washington Wizards last night, scoring 28 points in a 105-96Detroit victory to give the Wizards their first ever three-game losing streak this season. Two of Billups's top three scoring performances this season have come against the Wizards.
Both sides claimed it was Detroit's defense that allowed the defending champions to clamp down on the upstart Wizards but allowing 96 points is not really doing that great a job, is it? Wouldn't a casual observer assume it was Detroit's significant offense that got them the win, given that they gave up more points than usual on the defensive end?
Each team had 83 or 84 field goal attempts (the Wiz actually had one more), and Detroit made just one more field goal than the Wiz did. In fact, if that were the whole story, the Wizards would have won, because more of their shots were three pointers. The difference really came down to free throws and fouls. Detroit committed 21 fouls, sending the Wizards to the line 22 times, of which they made 16 free throws. Washington, on the other hand, committed 27 fouls, sending the Pistons to the line 35 times, of which they made 26.
There's your margin of victory right there. How is that Detroit's solid defense providing the win? It is clearly their offense and ability to get to the rim and get to the line that provided the difference.
NEXT GAME
The Wizards (26-18, second in the Southeast) travel to Canada to take on the Toronto Raptors (18-27, fourth in the Atlantic) on Friday, February 4th, 2005. The game starts at 7:00pm Eastern and will be broadcast on Comcast Sports Net, Raptors TV, and NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
From Jamison's buzzer-beating basket in Indiana to Hughes' exploits in Milwaukee, relive the top 10 moments of the first 41 games of the season by visiting the home page of the Wizards at nba.com/wizards.
INJURY UPDATE
Peter John Ramos(knee),Larry Hughes(thumb),Kwame Brown (ankle) are all on the injured list.
John N. Mitchell ofThe Washington Timeswrites: The Detroit Pistons showed Washington again last night why they are the defending NBA champions — and why the Wizards remain a work in progress.The Pistons dominated play in the fourth quarter for their fourth consecutive win — and eighth in a row against the Wizards — to earn a 105-96 victory in front of 16,843 fans at MCI Center. Detroit outscored Washington 35-21 in the last 12 minutes and handed the Wizards their first three-game losing streak of the season.
A. Sherrod Blakely ofMLive.comwrites: The Detroit Pistons know there's a chance they might face the Washington Wizards in the playoffs."When we play teams that we may see in the playoffs, we look to send out an early message," Detroit's Chauncey Billups said prior to Tuesday's game against the Wizards. The message was a clear one, as the Pistons played with the kind of poise down the stretch befitting a defending NBA champion, rallying in the fourth quarter for a 105-96 win.