Clippers’ Effort Doesn’t Pay Off

The Detroit Pistons didn’t expect this much resistance from the Clippers.

The Clippers led until the final moments of the third quarter before Detroit pulled away for its 10th win in 12 games, 108-99, Wednesday night.

“We gave them life and let them think they were a better team than they really are,” said Chauncey Billups, who scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. “The good thing is that we got the win. We lost a lot of games like this early in the season.”

The Clippers lost their ninth in a row and for the 17th time in 19 games.

Elton Brand, who led the Clippers with 27 points and 10 rebounds, was impressed with his team’s effort. The Clippers were missing Marko Jaric (foot) and Quentin Richardson (back), then lost Corey Maggette to a strained hamstring in the first half.

“We’re short-handed right now, but you have to be proud of the way these young guys came and played,” Brand said. “We’re playing as hard as we can with the unit we have.”

Detroit, which played without Rasheed Wallace (back) for the second game in a row, got 28 points and a season-high five steals from Richard Hamilton, but he still got some criticism from Coach Larry Brown.

“He didn’t really guard anyone,” Brown said. “He did some good things, but he didn’t do the job I want to see guarding people.”

Keyon Dooling had 20 points and 10 assists for the Clippers.

The first half was unusually high-scoring for a Pistons game -- both teams shot at least 50% and went into intermission tied, 52-52.

The Clippers kept up the pressure in the third, scoring 25 points on 11-for-20 shooting to lead by four late in the quarter.

Detroit, though, took control with a 13-0 run that spanned the third and fourth periods and gave the Pistons an 86-77 lead with 10 minutes left. Hamilton had five points in the run.

The Clippers got as close as 91-86, but Billups had nine points in a 12-2 run to put the game away.

Ben Wallace missed six of eight free throws in the fourth quarter, helping the Clippers stay within striking distance, but they couldn’t hit enough shots for a comeback.

Detroit finished with a season-high 31 points off turnovers, thanks to 18 steals.

“We just turned the ball over too many times in the second half, and they won the game,” Clipper Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “Once we lost Corey, we were playing on fumes at the end. We played with every ounce of energy we had.”