Rodman Does Little, but the Spurs Do Less

Dennis Rodman wasn’t much use to the Detroit Pistons. Fortunately for them, the Pistons didn’t need him against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

The Spurs again were without David Robinson, and the Piston offense woke up.

The Pistons broke 100 points for only the second time in eight games and beat San Antonio, 107-103.

The victory broke Detroit’s four-game losing streak, and put San Antonio on a four-game slide of their own. Three of the losses have come since Robinson went out to have hand surgery. The 7-foot-1 center will be lost to the Spurs for at least six weeks.

Scoring was the key, as Isiah Thomas saw it.

“We got to 100, and that means a victory,” Thomas said. ‘We needed to score more points.”

Thomas led Detroit with 24 points and Bill Laimbeer came off the bench for 22, his highest total since January.

Even without Rodman, the league’s leading rebounder, the Pistons outrebounded San Antonio, 40-39.

Rodman played only three listless minutes in the first half after arriving at the Palace less than 15 minutes before tipoff.

Rodman became ill on his way to the arena and had to stop, according to a television report, but he refused to confirm that.

Coach Chuck Daly was no help either. He said he didn’t know what happened because Rodman wouldn’t tell him.

“You’d have to ask him, because I haven’t heard anything,” Daly said. “He refuses to discuss it.”

Rodman finished with two points and three rebounds in 12 minutes.

Darrell Walker’s driving layup with 1:10 left broke a tie and led the Pistons to their victory.

The score was tied, 98-98, when Walker split the Spurs’ defense for his key basket. He then pulled down Vinnie Johnson’s miss. Detroit’s Joe Dumars hit a basket and was fouled, and his free throw made it 103-98 with 39 seconds left.

Thomas made another free throw, then San Antonio’s Rod Strickland hit a jumper and a three-pointer, sandwiched around a Dumars free throw, making it 105-103 with 11 seconds remaining.

Dumars was fouled again and made both free throws, completing the scoring.

The Pistons led 51-44 at halftime, but Johnson hit seven of eight shots in the third period, his 14 points helping the Spurs pull within one, 75-74, at the end of the quarter.

After nine lead changes and seven ties in the fourth period, Walker put the Pistons ahead to stay.

Terry Cummings had 26 points for San Antonio, Sean Elliot 21 and Johnson a season-high 17.

Detroit got nine first-quarter points from Thomas and took a 29-19 lead. Mark Aguirre, starting for Rodman, had seven points and four rebounds in the period.

The Pistons used a 10-0 run to take a 43-27 lead midway through the second period, but the Spurs cut it to seven at the half. Cummings had 18 first-half points.

“It was really strange coming back here,” Johnson said of his first trip to the Palace since leaving the Pistons. “It was nice when the crowd gave me a big hand, it’s always nice to be appreciated.”

Johnson’s streak in the third period didn’t surprise the Pistons.

“I knew it was going to happen,” John Salley said. “I knew he would come out and have a big game.”

The fourth quarter went back-and-forth, and after nine lead changes and seven tie scores, it was all tied up with two minutes to play, setting up Walker and Dumars for the finish.

“I always play this way, I just got a couple more shots today,” said Walker, who finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. “I knew that with Dennis and David Robinson out, there would be a lot of rebounds out there, and that I could get some.”

“We can’t use Dave as a copout,” Cummings said. “We played well enough to win, but we did some things to hurt ourselves.”