Pistons beat Hawks, clinch division title

There was no champagne in the Detroit Pistons’ locker room Monday night.

In fact, the Pistons didn’t even realize they clinched their fourth Central Division title in five years by beating Atlanta 91-84.

“I didn’t know until someone just told me,” Tayshaun Prince said. “I guess that shows you where our minds are.”

The win put Detroit two steps up coach Flip Saunders’ pyramid.

“First you have to make the playoffs, which we did a couple weeks ago, and then you have to win the division,” he said. “Now we have to get homecourt in the East, homecourt in the league, and then we have to win the championship.”

Detroit (53-13), whose magic number to clinch the Eastern Conference dropped to nine over Miami, also moved to 40 games over .500 for the first time since the 1988-89 season.

“That’s crazy,” Chauncey Billups said. “This has been one of those special years for us. Hopefully, we can keep it up.”

Atlanta coach Mike Woodson, an assistant on Detroit’s 2003-04 championship team, thinks they can.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how it carries over in the playoffs, but I predict they’ll win the title,” he said.

Clippers 99, Rockets 91: At Houston, Sam Cassell scored 24 points to lead Los Angeles past Houston, pushing the Clippers to 13 games over. 500 for the first time since the 1975-76 season.

Corey Maggette added 20 points for the Clippers, who haven’t been this many games over the break-even mark since they were the Buffalo Braves. Appropriately, the Clippers were wearing orange and black Braves uniforms from the franchise’s inaugural 1970-71 season for retro night.

Lakers 105, Celtics 97: At Boston, Kobe Bryant had 43 points, five rebounds and five steals as Los Angeles beat Boston. Bryant shot 18 of 39 and Lamar Odom added 17 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers.

Bucks 100, Trail Blazers 94: At Portland, Michael Redd had 23 points, and T.J. Ford added 19 points and 10 assists as Milwaukee beat Portland.

Off the court

Former New Orleans Hornets forward Chris Andersen’s dismissal from the NBA for violating the league’s drug policy was upheld by an arbitrator in New York.

Andersen was dismissed and disqualified from the league in late January. He is not eligible to apply for reinstatement for two years.

•Heat center Shaquille O’Neal was fined $5,000 by the NBA for a flagrant foul against Chicago’s Andres Nocioni.