Nov. 15, 2009
Gordon, Villanueva Lead Pistons Past Wiz 106-103
Gordon's 29 Points, Villanueva's 25 Lead Pistons Past Struggling Wizards 106-103
Gordon scored eight of the final 10 points for Detroit, which has won three consecutive games.
The Wizards have lost six in a row. Mike Miller returned from a left shoulder injury to score 20 points for the hosts, while Gilbert Arenas had 19 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. But Arenas' only field goal of the fourth quarter was a meaningless 3-pointer right before the final buzzer.
Reserve guard Will Bynum contributed 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Pistons, and Rodney Stuckey added 17 points and nine rebounds.
The 5-foot-5 Boykins was playing his first NBA game in more than 1ıı years, having signed with Washington on Wednesday because of a glut of injured guards. He shared the backcourt with Arenas for stretches - and it was the three-time All-Star who deferred down the stretch.
Arenas' first shot attempt of the fourth quarter was a 19-foot jumper that he missed with 2:05 left in the game and the score 96-all. Gordon banked in a 9-footer to put Detroit ahead, and then Boykins - not Arenas - missed jumpers on each of Washington's next two possessions.
Arenas then had a key turnover, one of only two for the night. That's quite an improvement from Washington's previous game, when he gave up the ball a career-high 12 times in a loss at Miami on Tuesday.
When Arenas took a 7-foot floater in the lane that clanged off the rim at the buzzer ending the first quarter, he was left with a line that read like this: zero points, 0-for-6 shooting (including an air ball), four assists.
Arenas, though, did what he does best, sinking a 3-pointer from about 30 feet right at the end of the half, hopping in place as the ball cut through the net.
Still, Detroit went into halftime ahead 55-47 thanks to a combined 44 points from Villanueva, Gordon and Stuckey.
NOTES: The game was new Wizards coach Flip Saunders' first in the regular season against the Pistons since they fired him in June 2008, after reaching the Eastern Conference finals in each of his three seasons there. ... Boykins played in Italy last season. ... Neither team was at full strength: Washington was without captain Antawn Jamison (sick) and Randy Foye (sprained right ankle), and Detroit was missing Richard Hamilton (sprained right ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (lower back). ... Jamison, a two-time All-Star, has not played this season. ... Hamilton appeared in only one regular-season game so far, but Detroit coach John Kuester said, "Rip is getting close." ... Prince did not travel with the Pistons.
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