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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Detroit Pistons All-Star Jerry
Stackhouse turned on the fireworks for new head coach George
Irvine's first game.
|  | | Grant Hill between Nick Van Exel, left, and Chris Gatling toward two of his 27 points. |
Stackhouse, who had never made more than three 3-pointers in an
NBA game, hit six Wednesday night on his way to a career-high 40
points in Detroit's 130-116 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
"We really wanted to play well for George tonight -- this is
where we need to turn our season around," Stackhouse said. "But
the most important thing was to get this one for ourselves."
Irvine was a bit stunned by his slashing guard turning into a
jump shooter.
"I'm not sure we want Stack taking 10 3-pointers every night.
That's about a week's worth for him normally," Irvine said. "But
he was feeling it tonight."
Grant Hill added 27 points and 10 assists, while Mikki Moore set
career bests with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Irvine replaced Alvin Gentry, who was fired on Monday. Irvine, who has already said he doesn't want the job permanently, is expected to coach the rest of this season.
"Tonight, I love this job. There's no better feeling in the
world than being the head coach of a team that plays well," he
said. "But tomorrow I'll be back to hating it."
Denver also finished the game with a temporary coach as John
Lucas took over after Dan Issel was ejected in the third quarter.
"I didn't think I deserved the second T. I didn't swear. I just
told them they were losing control of the game," Issel said. "We
played a good half, but they got a great lift from their bench in
the second half with (Jerome) Williams and Moore."
Stackhouse went 13-of-21 from the floor, including six
3-pointers, and hit all eight free-throw attempts in 34 minutes.
"I was taking all my threes from the corner. They are a lot
shorter that way," he said. "Shooting from out there is nice,
too. You don't get banged around nearly as much as when you
drive."
Antonio McDyess led the Nuggets with 29 points and Nick Van Exel
added 19. Van Exel, though, didn't score after intermission.
"In the second half, they just came out and took the ball out
of my hands," Van Exel said. "That was the biggest difference. In
the first half, we ran our offense, but in the second they caused a
lot of havoc."
The Pistons reached 130 points for the second time in two weeks.
Before their 131-99 win over Golden State on Feb. 25, they hadn't
done it since 1990.
Denver jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first quarter and
still led 66-63 at intermission.
Detroit started the third period with a 14-2 run to take their
first lead of the night. Stackhouse had 5 points in the run, which
was helped by five Denver turnovers.
The Pistons outscored Denver 41-17 to take a 104-83 lead into
the final period. Stackhouse had 10 points in the period as the
Pistons shot 72 percent (13-18) from the floor and added 11 free
throws.
"We screwed up our defensive scheme in the first half, but we
fixed it at the half," Irvine said. "Once we did that, they were
great. This is a player's league. If you give them the right
system, they will do their job."
Detroit led by as many as 26 points in the fourth.
Game notes
The Pistons will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of
their 1989-90 championship team this week. Irvine is the sixth
Pistons coach in those 10 years. ... Tariq Abdul-Wahad missed the game with a sprained left wrist. ... Irvine left the Detroit
starting lineup intact and didn't make any major changes to the
playing rotation. ... Denver's Chris Gatling was ejected with 3:54 left in the third quarter after a flagrant foul on John Crotty.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Denver Clubhouse
Detroit Clubhouse
Pistons fire Gentry, name Irvine interim head coach
RECAPS
Boston 112
Milwaukee 101
Philadelphia 107
Vancouver 90
Washington 118
New York 113
Detroit 130
Denver 116
New Jersey 115
Portland 103
Orlando 103
Chicago 67
Toronto 95
LA Clippers 94
Sacramento 105
Charlotte 92
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