Pistons unimpressive in win over Bobcats

3/18/2006 10:17:54 PM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - The Detroit Pistons needed a lucky basket and an iffy call to avoid their first back-to-back losses of the season.
Clinging to a two-point lead, Tayshaun Prince drove the ball toward the basket and tossed up a running jumper just as he was fouled. The ball went in with 4.9 seconds to play, Prince made the ensuing free throw and the Pistons wrapped up a 108-103 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday night.
''They were just trying to foul, so the common sense thing to do is throw it up at the basket,'' Prince said. ''As long as you don't dribble no more, it's a continuation.''
But Brevin Knight, who was called for the foul, vehemently disagreed and said after he's tired of calls constantly going against the Bobcats.
''It's becoming a joke - it really is,'' Knight fumed. ''Especially when the other team comes out and they're just laughing at it like they can't believe that it happened. We're used to it. We just kind of roll with the punches.''
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Richard Hamilton scored 23 points to help the Pistons, who lost 105-103 to the New York Knicks on Friday night and needed a strong second half to hold off the Bobcats.
Detroit trailed for much of the game before taking the lead late in the third quarter. The Pistons went up by as many as 10 points midway through the fourth, but couldn't put the Bobcats away.
Charlotte used an 8-2 run to cut its deficit to 102-98 - getting two pretty dunks from Gerald Wallace in the spurt - but both teams went cold shortly after. Chauncey Billups hit a three with 3:43 to play to make it 105-98, and Bernard Robinson scored on a running layup right after for the Bobcats.
Then neither team could find the basket. Ben Wallace missed four consecutive free throws for Detroit, then Billups missed a three and Rasheed Wallace was off on an 18-footer as the Pistons went over three minutes without a point.
The Bobcats weren't any better, managing only a free throw from Brevin Knight during Detroit's drought.
''The biggest thing that I was impressed with was the last three or four minutes, our defence was (good),'' Saunders said. ''It we played like that for 48 (minutes), we'd make things a lot easier for ourselves.''