Pistons Ground Hawks, 105-98

March 22, 1998 / 4:58 PM EST / AP

With All-Stars Grant Hill and Joe Dumars, and solid players like Brian Williams and Lindsey Hunter, Don Reid tends to be overlooked on the Detroit Pistons.

On Sunday, though, Reid got noticed in a 105-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Reid only had two points and four rebounds in a career-high 38 minutes, but he excited his teammates and a crowd of 22,076 with four blocks, including two on back-to-back dunk attempts by Dikembe Mutombo.

``He gave us an incredible boost of energy,'' Williams said. ``It was phenomenal the way he stopped Dikembe.''

Hill led the Pistons with 24 points and 11 assists. Williams and Jerry Stackhouse added 23 points for Detroit.

Steve Smith had 22 for Atlanta, and Christian Laettner added 20, including 11 in the fourth quarter.

Reid knew that one play, where he blocked Mutombo's dunk try, then repeated the feat after Mutombo retrieved the loose ball, played a big part in the final outcome.

``That was a big point in the game, because it got everyone excited,'' he aid. ``It's all timing with him. He doesn't jump that high, but his arms are so long that if he gets there first, he's going to dunk on you. You just have to watch for him to gather himself, so you know what is coming.''

Reid's playing time has steadily gone up since Alvin Gentry replaced Doug Collins as the Pistons coach.

``Don was just terrific out there,'' Gentry said. ``Those two blocks just set the tone for everything that happened out there. That's his role he and Lindsey are aggressive defensively.''

Detroit led 53-47 at halftime and built its lead to 11 in the third quarter, helped by technical fouls on Alan Henderson, Mutombo and Atlanta coach Lenny Wilkens.

The Pistons led 68-55 after a three-point play by Stackhouse, but then their offense went cold. Hill was the only Piston to score in the final five minutes of the period, and Atlanta closed within 76-69.

Laettner scored the first five points of the fourth, making it a two-point game with 10 minutes to play.

That was when Dumars took over, hitting four jumpers in the next three minutes. The last, a 3-pointer, put Detroit up 89-78 with 6:55 left.

``That's why Joe is going into the Hall of Fame,'' Gentry said. ``We have so much confidence in him that if he missed 10 straight shots, and we had one shot to win the game, we would have him taking it.''

Atlanta got within 89-82, but the rally stalled when Laettner missed two free throws, shot an airball on a 3-point attempt, and was called for an offensive foul on consecutive possessions.

``We turned it over three or four times down the stretch and that really hurt us,'' Wilkens said. ``The Pistons came out very aggressive. Knowing that we didn't have Mookie (Blaylock) or Chuckie (Brown), they should have.''

The Hawks cut Detroit's lead to 91-88 by holding them to two points in 4@1/2 minutes, but Hill broke the run, and Atlanta never hathe ball with a chance to tie or go ahead. ^Notes: The officiating crew of Steve Javie, David Jones and Rashan Michel called four technical fouls in the first eight minutes of the third quarter. Henderson, Mutombo and Wilkens picked up the first three in rapid succession, and Detroit's Rick Mahorn was called for the fourth. ... The Pistons have won seven of their last 11 games against Atlanta..