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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
ATLANTA (AP) – Detroit Pistons coach George Irvine has watched
Jerry Stackhouse score more points than any other NBA player this
season.
|  | | Atlanta's Lorenzen Wright drives the baseline around Corliss Williamson. |
Now Irvine can see other parts of Stackhouse's game improving.
Stackhouse scored 37 points and Corliss Williamson added 23 as
the Pistons increased their winning streak to a season-high four
games by beating the Atlanta Hawks 129-124 in overtime Saturday
night.
"His passing is better than it was before," Irvine said.
"He's got to continue to get better. He's got to think about how
to make his teammates better. He's making strides in that
direction. Then you can consider him a really good player."
Ben Wallace preserved the win after Stackhouse missed a 3-point
attempt and the Pistons leading 127-124. Wallace was falling out of
bounds as he pulled down his team-high 15th rebound and passed the
ball to Chucky Atkins.
Atkins, quickly fouled by Brevin Knight with 7.4 seconds to go,
hit a pair of free throws for the final points of the game.
Stackhouse's errant shot was just another example of how Irvine
wants to see his All-Star look for his teammates.
"He just feels tremendous pressure later in the game that he
has to score," Irvine said. "Tonight when he saw Corliss playing
well, he was content to play off Corliss."
Stackhouse admitted that Williamson's back-to-back layups in
overtime helped ease the burden.
"Guys that hadn't really been going well as of late, they got
it going tonight, but that happens," Stackhouse said. "I thought
we made plays when we had to make key stops and big baskets."
The Pistons, winning their fourth straight over Atlanta, swept
the season series for the first time since 1990-91.
Detroit has won seven of eight overall.
Lorenzen Wright scored a season-high 31 points and Jason Terry
added 25 for the Hawks, who lost for the fifth time in six games.
Atlanta, coming off an embarrasing 36-point loss in New York on
Friday night in which they set a season low with 65 points, scored
a season high against Detroit.
"I don't know about last night in New York, but this is just a
classic case of not knowing how to finish a game," Wright said.
"The only thing we had to do was make free throws, and we didn't
do that. We threw the ball away and didn't deserve to win this
game."
The Pistons also had their season high in scoring.
Stackhouse, who scored 20 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter
to give Detroit a 12-point win over Toronto on Wednesday night, did
most of his damage in the third.
The NBA's second-leading scorer with a 29.9 average, Stackhouse
was 6-for-7 from the field, including 2-for-3 on 3-pointers, to
finish the period with 15 points. Allen Iverson leads the NBA in
scoring with a 31.1 average, but his 2,180 total points are 122
fewer than Stackhouse's.
"We put ourselves in a bind by not closing out the game when we
could have," Stackhouse said. "We seemed to be dominating the
game, but we were up by only six at the half."
Nazr Mohammed hit a pair of free throws with 3:22 left in
regulation to give the Hawks a 106-104 lead, their first of the
second half. Mohammed finished with 20 points, scoring Atlanta's
final points on an inside basket with 30.9 seconds remaining.
Game notes
Entering with 987 rebounds, Wallace became the first
Detroit player since Dennis Rodman in 1992-93 to pass 1,000 in a
single season. ... Rodman, Bill Laimbeer and Bob Lanier each had
three consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds. ... Detroit
improved to 2-4 in overtime this season. ... Atlanta dropped to
4-47 when trailing after three quarters.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Detroit Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
RECAPS
Detroit 129
Atlanta 124
Milwaukee 112
Toronto 86
San Antonio 111
Denver 95
Houston 100
Vancouver 95
LA Clippers 106
Golden State 94
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