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Pistons edge Sonics

Seattle's Chris Wilcox lofts a shot over Detroit's Rasheed Wallace. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Tim Booth Associated Press
Seattle's Chris Wilcox lofts a shot over Detroit's Rasheed Wallace. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

SEATTLE – Chris Webber scored 24 points, Tayshaun Prince added 18, and the Detroit Pistons held off a late rally for a 101-97 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics on Tuesday night.

Detroit improved to 3-0 on its five-game West Coast road swing and remained two games up on Cleveland for the Central Division lead and best record in the Eastern Conference.

But it didn’t come easily, and not before the Pistons nearly blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead.

Seattle got within 96-95 on Ray Allen’s fifth 3-pointer of the game, when he came to a jump stop in transition and swished a 26-footer with 1:56 left.

Chauncey Billups responded with his first basket in nearly 17 minutes, hitting a pull-up 3 in front of Earl Watson. After a pair of free throws by Allen, the teams traded misses, with Billups and Webber forcing up difficult attempts late in the shot clock and Allen twice missing open looks.

Seattle got one final opportunity. Allen worked the clock down and dribbled through traffic, but missed a tough, rainbow fallaway 12-footer with Rasheed Wallace’s hand in his face. Hamilton grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 5.2 seconds left, hitting both free throws for the final margin.

Wallace returned from his one-game suspension to add 15 points and Billups finished with 14.

Allen led Seattle with 27 points, 14 in the fourth quarter, but the All-Star struggled to find open looks against the aggressive defense of Hamilton and Billups.

Detroit tried to pull away and nearly turned the contest into a rout early in the fourth.

Leading 73-71 entering the final quarter, Detroit scored seven points in a little more than a minute to push its lead to 86-74. Hamilton made up for a turnover by stripping Seattle’s Damien Wilkins in the open court, then finding Antonio McDyess under the basket for a layup while being fouled.

Seattle coach Bob Hill leaped off the bench in disgust about a foul not being called on Hamilton and was assessed a quick technical. Prince then knocked down a pair of jumpers, giving Detroit its largest lead at 12.

Allen suddenly found a little space, hitting a trio of 3-pointers and the Sonics chipped away, pulling within three on Chris Wilcox’s short one-handed jumper with 4:51 left.

Then the Pistons went exclusively to Webber. The veteran responded with five straight points and Detroit never relinquished the lead in the final minutes.

Wilcox added 21 points for Seattle, 17 in the first half. Wilcox hit his first four shots and was 8 of 10 in the first half.

Rashard Lewis finished with 13 points and became Seattle’s career leader in 3-pointers made. Lewis passed Gary Payton with his 918th 3-pointer as a Sonic with 7:37 left in the first quarter.

Seattle made 11 of 22 3-point attempts, but couldn’t make up for 21 turnovers.

Notes

The teams combined to make their first nine shots and 11 of the first 13 attempted. … Seattle G Luke Ridnour missed his fifth straight game with an aggravated disc in his neck. Ridnour is expected to practice Thursday and Friday and play on Saturday when Seattle hosts Golden State. … Seattle had its five-game home winning streak snapped.