![]() | |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- Detroit native Chris Webber collected 33 points and 12 rebounds and Scot Pollard added 15 and 14 against his former team to lift the Sacramento Kings to a 100-93 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Webber scored 29 points over the final three quarters. He shot just 9-of-25 from the field but was locked in at the foul line, hitting 13-of-14. Pollard, selected 19th overall in 1997 by Detroit and traded after one season, came up huge in the first quarter, when center Vlade Divac was forced to the bench with two fouls in the first minute. Pollard provided his usual dose of energy while contributing 11 points and five rebounds in the first period. His layup at 3:03 of the third quarter gave the Kings the lead for good. "The thrill I have every time is when I see my mother's cooking" Webber said. "It's good to see everybody. I'm never home for Christmas so this is like my Christmas." "It's not that big a deal," Pollard said. "It did feel good to play well in front of a crowd that never got to see me play but there's no revenge. I'm glad I was able to come in and contribute when we were without one of our main guys." The Pistons were done in by turnovers, committing 25 which led to a whopping 32 points for the Kings. Jerry Stackhouse scored 22 points and Ben Wallace added 14 and 10 rebounds for Detroit, which begins a four-game road trip on Saturday. The Pistons play six of their first seven games away from home. "We can't keep giving teams easy points like that," Stackhouse said. "They killed us off our turnovers and they killed us with second chances inside. You can't win basketball games if you don't take care of the ball. Our defense ignites our offense but you can't generate offense when you're taking the ball out of the basket. They looked like the team we're supposed to be." Sacramento dominated the offensive boards, holding a 23-14 edge with Pollard grabbing eight and Webber hauling in seven. "It's good for us after losing in double overtime to Cleveland in a game we thought we should have won," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "We came out with a lot of energy tonight. In the second half especially, we took better care of the ball. We went to the boards and got a lot of offensive rebounds." Wallace scored eight points during a 12-2 run that put the Pistons on top 67-63 with 5:54 left in the third quarter. But Webber responded with six as part of a 15-2 surge capped by Pollard's dunk that gave Sacramento a 78-69 cushion in the final minute of the period. The Kings took their largest lead, 94-81, on two free throws by Webber midway through the fourth period. Detroit made one last run, with Stackhouse scoring five points and Chucky Atkins adding a three-point play to cap a 12-2 spurt that cut the deficit to three with 1:08 to play. But Webber and Bobby Jackson combined for four free throws to preserve the victory. "They got 32 points off our turnovers and that's against a team that not a good defensive team," Pistons coach George Irvine said. "It's sad to play a team with no defensive pressure and still turn the ball over 25 times. We didn't play well enough to win. We're not a good enough team to play in spurts. We've got to play hard the whole game. We were just careless and undisciplined."
|