Toronto Raptors vs Detroit Pistons Jan.15/08

Coming off a lousy performance, Richard Hamilton was determined to be more involved in Detroit's offence.

Hamilton scored a season-high 39 points and helped the Pistons rebound from an embarrassing loss with a 103-89 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.

On Sunday, the Pistons lost 89-65 to the last-place New York Knicks _ their third defeat in five games _ and Hamilton scored three points.

``I didn't really take a lot of shots against New York, so tonight I knew I needed to be aggressive,'' Hamilton said. ``Tonight I just knew they were going to fall.''

Hamilton hit 16 of 22 shots against Toronto, including a career-high five three-pointers.

``That's my real estate in the corner,'' he said. ``It's like Monopoly. I've got four houses and a hotel on there. It's what I do.''

Chauncey Billups added 20 points for Detroit and Antonio McDyess had nine points, 13 rebounds and a career-high seven steals.

``Dice was huge in this game,'' Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. ``He had a tough, tough matchup tonight _ Chris Bosh was out there playing great. Dice knew he had a challenge and he stepped up to the plate.

Bosh, who averaged 39 points in Toronto's last two games, was held to 16 by the team that passed on him for Darko Milicic in the 2003 draft.

``I just tried to play him tough,'' McDyess said. ``I forced him to go to his right side, and luckily he turned the ball over and I got the steals.''

The Pistons led by as many as 13 in the second quarter, but former Pistons guard Carlos Delfino scored 14 points, including a buzzer-beating layup, to cut the margin to 51-50 at the half.

``This is where I had the best years of my career, so it is always nice to come back to this arena and play well,'' Delfino said. ``When we are making shots, we're good. In the second half, we didn't make shots and just fell down.''

Toronto didn't have anything left for the third, though. While the Raptors were missing 10 of their first 12 shots, Detroit was slicing up their defence on their way to a 75-57 lead late in the quarter.

``We missed a bunch of shots at the start of the second half and they didn't,'' Bosh said. ``They made some defensive adjustments at halftime and it worked.''

The Raptors rallied again, finishing the quarter with a 8-2 run to get within 12.

Wallace, though, started the fourth with a three-point play that included a dunk over Rasho Nestorovic, and the Raptors were never able to seriously threaten.

``This was a good win for us _ we feel good about this one,'' Billups said. ``After the way we played against New York, we had to come out and make a statement.''

Notes: Toronto added two points at the end of the third quarter when Tayshaun Prince was called for a foul as Jamario Moon threw up a desperation shot at the buzzer. Replays showed that Moon appeared to be behind the three-point line, but the officials gave him two shots after looking at the replay. ... Hamilton was the first Pistons player to score 30 points since he scored 32 on Nov. 11 at Seattle, a span of 32 games. ... Delfino didn't score in the second half. ... Toronto coach Sam Mitchell picked up a technical for arguing a fourth-quarter call, but Hamilton missed the free throw.

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Sports

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• Toronto
• Raptors
• vs
• Detroit
• Pistons
• Jan.15/08

[momoissocool]

@masood104

OMG were you from the future?! cos you were right... :O

[Snoshes]

God your right.

[BiggCBeBallin]

DEEEETROIT BASKETBALL !!

[jisaac356]

I like the Raptors, but the Pistons are better.

[masood104]

lol toronto doesnt suck watch detroit in 1 or 2 years u guyz will have no one :p

[thecarrotdude]

raptors really suck

[naitsno]

in my country Norway, its just football on sport tv, all the time. I wish it was basketball, like NBA. But one day im gone go to America and see a basketballgame. Pistons best, and then chicago bulls, I think that.

[naitsno]

1. pistons

2. chicago bulls

3. ......

[drt078]

PISTONS ALL THE WAY!!!

[thaking016]

STOP DICK RIDING MAN