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Tuesday, Dec. 21 7:30pm ET
Richmond scores season-high 33 | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- The Washington Wizards came to town knowing that they had a great opportunity to beat the Detroit Pistons. After all, Detroit was still reeling from a draining last-second overtime loss the previous night in Philadelphia. The Wizards didn't miss their chance, getting a season-high 33 from Mitch Richmond on their way to a 97-83 win. "We caught them at a good time," Wizards coach and former Pistons assistant Gar Heard said. "They had a tough, disappointing loss last night. But give our guys credit -- we were determined to win and finish the trip off right." The Wizards won their third in a row despite the ejection of Rod Strickland, as Chris Whitney had eight points and eight rebounds. "Losing Rod was tough, but Chris was just awesome," Richmond said. "He came in and did an excellent job controlling the game." The Pistons, who lost coach Alvin Gentry to an ejection, have lost four of six. "This was a tough one," said Grant Hill. "It seemed like we left it all in Philly last night. Our whole season has been like tonight's game - every time we get close to even, we slide back again." Hill led Detroit with 25 points, and Jerry Stackhouse added 20. Washington led 51-43 at the half, thanks to 16 from Richmond, but the Pistons helped them a great deal. Not only did they make just six of 14 free throws in the first two quarters, coach Gentry gave the Wizards two points from the line when he was he was ejected early in the second by referee Jack Nies. "I didn't say one word of profanity to him," Gentry said. "I'm not going to comment beyond that, because if I do, as a coach in the NBA, I'm just giving money away." Nies also hit Strickland with a technical early in the third quarter for arguing a charging call, then ejected him moments later after a foul at the other end. The Pistons missed their first nine shots of the third quarter, but still managed to cut the Washington lead to 59-55 by hitting 12 free throws. But the poor shooting finally caught up with them, as Washington went on a 9-0 run to go up 68-55. "We expended a lot of energy last night - both physically and emotionally," said Christian Laettner. "They figured that out and they took advantage of us." Michael Curry finally hit a pair of jumpers to end the slide, but those were Detroit's only field goals of the quarter. Their 2-for-15 (13 percent) performance from the floor helped Washington take a 75-63 lead into the fourth. "I just wanted us to stop fouling them," Heard said. "The only way they were scoring was at the line, and we figured that if we started making them take jump shots, we'd have a chance to win the game. They are a very good transition team, so we wanted to make them stop and take jumpers." Two baskets by Hill started a 7-0 run that got Detroit within 81-76 with 6:27 left, but the rally stalled there. Two baskets by Howard started a 10-1 run to put the game away.
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Washington Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse RECAPS Indiana 113 Seattle 103
Washington 97
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