LOS ANGELES, 22 March 2006 — The Detroit Pistons took another step in their master plan for a second NBA championship in the last three years.
Rasheed Wallace scored 26 points and Tayshaun Prince had 18 as the Pistons rolled past the visiting Atlanta Hawks 91-84 Monday night to clinch their fourth Central Division title in the last five seasons.
“It’s a five-step process,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders explained.
“One, you want to get in the playoffs — we did that about two weeks ago; you want to win your division, which is going to pretty much lock in home court at least through the first two rounds. Now, what you want to do is to secure home court in the East, then secure home court overall and then the championship.”
Chauncey Billups and fellow All-Star Richard Hamilton had 14 points apiece for league-best Detroit (53-13), which won the league title in 2004 but fell to San Antonio in seven games last year.
“This has been one of those special years for us,” Billups said. “Hopefully, we can keep it up.” The Pistons were surprised by the Hawks, 99-98 on Feb. 7, but Wallace and reserve Maurice Evans helped decide the game in the first half.
Wallace went off for 17 points, and Evans added eight of his 10 to fuel an 18-6 surge that helped the hosts build a 53-34 cushion en route to the milestone victory.
“We played great basketball in the first half,” Prince said. “We stepped our defense up in the first quarter and throughout the second.” Al Harrington scored 23 points and Joe Johnson had 17 for Atlanta, (21-44), which has dropped five if it’s last six games. Harrington showed his class by congratulating the Pistons.
Lakers 105 Celtics 97: League top-scorer Kobe Bryant erupted for 16 of his 43 points in the final quarter, including his team’s final 12, as the visiting Lakers held off a late charge to trim the Celtics.
Lamar Odom had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers (35-34), who salvaged the final of three-game road trip after Bryant missed potential last second game-winning shots at New Jersey and Cleveland.
Paul Pierce scored 26 despite rolling his right ankle in the second quarter, and Tony Allen added a season-high 18 points for Boston (28-40), which trailed throughout en route to its fourth loss in the last five games.
Pierce’s basket cut a 56-40 halftime deficit to 99-94. But Bryant made a driving lay-up with 1:20 remaining, and added four free throws in the final 49 seconds to nail down the win.
Clippers 99 Rockets 91: Sam Cassell scored 24 points against his former team, and Corey Maggette had 20 as the playoff-bound Clippers (39-26) pulled away in the fourth quarter for just their second victory in 12 meetings against the slumping Rockets.
China’s Yao Ming had 25 points and 17 rebounds, while rookie Luther Head scored 20 points in Houston’s (29-38) fifth straight loss.
Bucks 100 Trail Blazers 93: Michael Redd scored 23 points, including two free throws in the final seconds to cap a 6-0 closing run, and T.J. Ford had 19 points along with 10 assists, sparking the Bucks to their second win over the slumping Trail Blazers in the last three days.
Zach Randolph collected 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Joe Pryzbilla added 13 points and 12 boards for Western Conference-worst Portland (20-47), losers in nine of the last 10 games, including a 97-93 setback at Milwaukee Saturday night.
