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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) – Detroit Pistons rookie Mateen Cleaves
knows the importance of winning home games.
On Tuesday night, Cleaves and the Pistons ended six weeks of
home frustration with a 94-83 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
"You have to guard your home court like you guard your house,"
Cleaves said after Detroit's first home win of 2001. "You wouldn't
want someone to come into your living room and steal your TV while
you were watching it."
Cleaves scored 13 points and impressed Pistons coach George
Irvine with his defense.
"Mateen helped us with the offense tonight, but he's on the
floor because he plays defense," Irvine said. "Our reserves
really did a nice job in the second quarter, and he sparked it."
Detroit snapped an eight-game home losing streak. The Pistons
had not won at home since beating Boston 101-96 on Dec. 26.
"This is a great win for us," said Jerry Stackhouse, who led
Detroit with 24 points. "Everyone played hard, and even though we
didn't play great, our defense got us the win."
Joe Smith added 12 points for Detroit.
Antonio McDyess led Denver with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Nick
Van Exel scored 22 for the Nuggets, who have lost seven of eight on
the road.
"We placed ourselves in a marvelous situation at home, and once
again, we go on the road and don't get much done," Denver coach
Dan Issel said. "We have two guys that show up every night --
Antonio and Nick. After that, it is pretty much a crap shoot."
Detroit, which led 29-25 after one quarter, broke the game open
with an 11-0 run midway through the second. Cleaves scored seven
points in the period as the Pistons built a 57-39 lead by halftime.
"It's our job to come and build on what the first unit does,"
Cleaves said. "Tonight, everyone brought everything they had."
Detroit led by as many as 19 in the third quarter before Denver
cut the lead to 14 points, 74-60, by the end of the period.
Detroit quickly put the game out of reach in the fourth.
"We're in a big slump right now, especially on the road,"
McDyess said. "It is like we expect to lose. If we can start
playing like we do at home, things will be all right."
McDyess limped off the court with an apparent left-knee injury
with 9:54 left. McDyess was coming around a screen when his knee
buckled. He returned to the game after missing three minutes.
Game notes
Detroit's eight-game home losing streak was two short of
the team record set in 1979-80 and tied in 1993-94. ... Denver is
2-9 in the second half of back-to-back games. ... McDyess had his
league-leading 37th double-double before the injury. ... Detroit
hadn't won at home since a 101-96 win over Boston on Dec. 26.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Denver Clubhouse
Detroit Clubhouse
RECAPS
Orlando 109
Charlotte 83
Detroit 94
Denver 83
New Jersey 90
Atlanta 84
Miami 102
Indiana 89
Milwaukee 112
Sacramento 109
Phoenix 97
Chicago 80
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Jerry Stackhouse Official Site
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