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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- One night after his bachelor party
and one night before his wedding, Jerry Stackhouse was happy to
have a patsy in town.
"No offense to the Bulls, but I'm glad we didn't have to play
the Lakers tonight," Stackhouse joked after scoring 25 points and
handing out eight assists in a 106-93 victory over Chicago on
Saturday night. "It was a long night last night."
Stackhouse shot just 6-of-22 from the floor but made 11 free
throws.
"This is a very special time for me, with the wedding and the
holidays," he said. "That's my excuse for my shooting tonight,
but I'm glad we won the game."
Chucky Atkins helped out with 22 points, including 13 in the
crucial third quarter.
"My man Stack is getting married, and he had his whole family
here, so we had to get him a win," Atkins said. "We needed this
one, and I felt good out there."
Michael Curry added 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while Ben
Wallace had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Pistons won for just the third time in eight games, while
Chicago lost its fifth in a row and for the 11th time in 12 games.
Chicago's Ron Mercer led all scorers with 29 points, while Elton
Brand added 21.
"It was a winnable game for us after a horrific start,"
Chicago coach Tim Floyd. "I thought the job we did on Stackhouse
was decent for the most part, but we just didn't keep him off the
line."
Detroit held Chicago scoreless for the game's first 4:53 on the
way to an early 24-7 lead, but the Bulls fought back within 49-46
at intermission.
"Once you get a team down, you have to keep playing the same
way in order to keep them down," Wallace said. "The Bulls might
not have a great record, but those guys wouldn't be in the league
if they couldn't play."
Chicago actually went ahead by a point early in the third, but
Atkins led the Pistons on a 20-7 run to put them back up by 13.
Atkins' 13 points in the quarter helped Detroit to a 78-71 lead
with 12 minutes to go.
Dana Barros moved Detroit's lead to 91-79 with 7:50 left,
hitting a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired.
"We were getting ready for the holidays a little too soon,"
Brand said. "We didn't have any intensity or any fight to us."
Chicago answered with a 6-1 run, and Detroit helped the rally by
missing four of six free throws in one stretch. The Bulls cut the
margin to 93-89 with 3:33 left, but baskets from Joe Smith and
Curry finally put the game away.
"Give Chicago a lot of credit -- they could have packed it in
early and gone home for the holidays, but they made us fight for
it," Pistons coach George Irvine said. "I think we thought it was
going to be easy, and we let up on defense. When we do that, it
hurts us on the offensive end, and of course, it hurts us on the
defensive end, so we are really in trouble."
Game notes
One losing streak was guaranteed to end during the game, as
Detroit entered the game with a 0-3 record on Saturdays while the
Bulls were 0-5. Chicago is now 2-2 on Thursdays and 1-22 during the
rest of the week. ... Detroit has beaten Chicago four times in five
tries since the start of the 1999-2000 season. This win gave the
Pistons a 94-93 edge in the all-time series, the first time they
have been ahead since the glory days of the "Bad Boys" in the
late 1980s.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Chicago Clubhouse
Detroit Clubhouse
RECAPS
Atlanta 91
Indiana 87
Charlotte 88
San Antonio 84
Detroit 106
Chicago 93
Miami 86
New Jersey 80
Orlando 111
Cleveland 92
Utah 98
Minnesota 92
Golden State 95
Houston 87
Milwaukee 104
Boston 99
Phoenix 102
Denver 93
Portland 87
Washington 70
LA Clippers 92
Vancouver 90
Sacramento 97
Seattle 92
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Jerry Stackhouse Official Site
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