Hill, Pistons Squeak By Cavs

January 30, 1999 / 3:21 AM EST / AP

If the Cavaliers were looking for an outside endorsement on their decision to give Zydrunas Ilgauskas a new deal, they got one from Grant Hill.

Ilgauskas, who signed a six-year, $71 million contract extension with the Cavaliers earlier in the day, had 11 points and nine rebounds in Cleveland's 83-78 loss to the Detroit Pistons Friday night.

Hill scored a game-high 21 points for the Pistons, and was impressed by Ilgauskas' continued improvement.

"Ilgauskas is a hell of a player," Hill said. "You take away the top three or four centers in the league and I'm not sure if he isn't the next best one. Obviously, he's a young kid that has something to learn, but he's a terrific player."

Jerry Stackhouse scored 15 points and Lindsey Hunter had 13 points and seven assists for Detroit.

"We were much better tonight," said Pistons guard Jud Buechler, a former Chicago Bull who made a big 3-pointer down the stretch. "I think we executed much better on offense, and we had a higher energy level which was good."

Free tickets brought out a crowd of 14,743 to Gund Arena more than 5,000 short of capacity for the second exhibition between the teams in the past three days. Both clubs played much better than in their previous matchup when the Cavs scored the game's first 17 points in an 86-82 win.

It looked like a ragged scrimmage at times, and got physical in the first half when Detroit center Eric Montross bloodied Cleveland's Vitaly Potapenko with an elbow to the face. Potapenko returned after getting six stitches and was impressive in his 22 minutes, scoring 11 points.

"Detroit was very physical tonight," said Cavs coach Mike Fratello. "They came after us, they got on the glass and you have to respond to that. It's a very physical game out there."

Some of the fans were in midseason form, with several behind the scorer's table all over Detroit coach Alvin Gentry, who at one point reminded a heckler, "Hey, it's just an exhibition game."

Ilgauskas, a 7-foot-3 center who averaged nearly 14 points per game as a rookie last season, showed why Cleveland president Wayne Embry thinks the 23-year-old can develop into one of the NBA's elite big men. In 23 minutes he displayed a nice touch on a couple of baseline jumpers and bulled his way down low for a couple of baskets.

It took only a few hours for Ilgauskas' agent, Herb Rudoy, to work out a deal with the Cavaliers on Thursday.

"I had the goods," Rudoy said. "When you've got the goods it's not hard."

Once the deal was finalized Thursday night, Ilgauskas `Z' to his teammates and Cavs' fans telephoned his family despite it being 1 a.m. in Lithuania.

"They were all sleeping," Ilgauskas said. "But I talked to them and they were very happy. They like Cleveland a lot, they've been here a lot and they really like it here."

With a 4-to-1 xchange rate, Ilgauskas' contract would be worth over 280 million litas in his homeland. But he said that's not why he's staying in Cleveland.

"It's not about the money," he said. "I wanted to stay here because the Cavaliers gave me a chance prove myself as a player and I think we have a great future."

Shawn Kemp, whose weight reportedly had ballooned to over 300 by the time the lockout ended, looked to be much closer to his listed playing weight of 280. He had 11 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes.

"These games are about finding out where you're at and finding out how far you have to go," Kemp said. "

Brevin Knight and Wesley Person added 14 points apiece for the Cavs, who had 10 players play at least 19 minutes.

"I'm trying to be careful and selective with minutes," Fratello said. "I understand you have to play them enough minutes to get them ready, but you can't let them overload it if they're not ready right now."