Pistons Pound Warriors

The Detroit Pistons sure aren't used to easy games like this.

Grant Hill scored 30 points and Jerry Stackhouse added 29 as the Detroit Pistons routed the Golden State Warriors 131-99 on Friday night.

"We aren't Portland or the Lakers, so we don't get many games like this," said Pistons coach Alvin Gentry. "I kept telling the guys in timeouts to keep their focus we didn't want to let them back into it."

"It's nice to get the win, but you can't read too much into it," Stackhouse said. "We know that they are in a bit of disarray right now, and we took advantage."

The Pistons set season highs for points and margin of victory. Golden State had its worst loss of the year in its worst defensive performance.

"That wasn't any fun for me to watch, and it wasn't any fun for them to play," Warriors coach Garry St. Jean said. "When you get off to a bad start, it is important to find your way back into the game. We never did that."

Lindsey Hunter added 18 and Jerome Williams had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Detroit. Larry Hughes led the Warriors with 24.

Hill and Stackhouse dominated the first half, scoring 22 points each.

Hill had 14 in the first quarter as Detroit took a 38-24 lead. Stackhouse saved his best for the start of the second, burning Hughes for 11 points in the first 2:55 of the period as Detroit went up 55-34.

"He's just not strong enough right now," Stckhouse said. "I hope that he'll gain more desire to play defense. He's a very good offensive player, but that's a bad situation. It's a bad team and it looks like a free-for-all."

The Warriors held the Milwaukee Bucks to just 33 second-half points on Wednesday, and knew they would need another effort like that to have any chance.

It didn't happen. The Pistons scored another 35 points in the third quarter, including nine by Hunter, and took a 101-81 lead.

"Ever since I've been playing against them, that's been the way they play," Hughes said. "They try to get off to a good start and build a big lead going into the half. We could have easily gotten back into it, but never got it going."

Detroit led by 33 in the fourth, and the only excitement for the fans was the play of Mikki Moore, who had eight points in the first extended minutes of his two-year career.

"That's the first time I've had the crowd cheering for me since last season in the CBA last year," Moore said. "I'm not going to get a big head and start thinking I'm Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but it was nice to get a chance to get my career going."

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