San Antonio (27-14) at Detroit (28-13)
Currently: - Game info: 3:00 pm EST Mon Jan 19, 2004
- TV: KRRT, FSD
The Detroit Pistons will try to set a franchise record for consecutive wins when they welcome the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs to the Palace of Auburn Hills.
With one more victory, the Pistons will match the team mark of 13 straight wins set during their championship season of 1989-90.
Chauncey Billups scored 26 points, and Richard Hamilton had 22 to lead the Pistons to a 99-94 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.
“The biggest thing is execution,” Pistons coach Larry Brown said. “We’ve played better as a team in every area.”
Ben Wallace had 13 points and 11 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season, and Corliss Williamson added 13 points off the bench. The win improved the Pistons to 20-1 when they score at least 90 points this season.
“We’ve had different guys step up,” Brown said. “But we’ve really, really played well as a team.”
Brown knows he’ll need the Pistons to continue playing well if they hope to get by the Spurs. San Antonio snapped a three-game losing streak with a 109-92 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
Rasho Nesterovic had a season-high 23 points and 13 rebounds, and Tony Parker added 20 points—all in the first half. San Antonio had a 50-34 rebounding advantage and outscored Boston 54-34 in the paint.
“We combined 48 minutes of good defense with making some shots,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That certainly makes things easy for us.”
Popovich said he was particularly impressed with Parker, who has struggled with his shot in recent games. Parker made eight of his nine field-goal attempts.
“Call in the search party, because we’ve found him tonight,” Popovich said of Parker. “Without him, we’ve got problems. He’s very important to us. It was nice to see him be aggressive and make some shots.”
Team Comparison
| Team | Record | Standings | PF | PA | Road/Home | Streak | L10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Antonio | 57-25 | 2nd Southwest / 3rd West | 91.5 | 84.3 | Road 24-17 | Won 11 | 10-0 |
| Detroit | 54-28 | 2nd Central / 3rd East | 90.1 | 84.3 | Home 31-10 | Lost 1 | 8-2 |
Pounding The Rock
Detroit Bad Boys
