Wallace's late free throws, block power Pistons' win

Former Cavalier Bob Sura scored a season-high 13 points for Detroit in Atlanta.
ATLANTA (AP) -- Mostly ineffective for 31/2 quarters, Ben Wallace came through when it counted the most.
Wallace made two late free throws -- his first points of the game -- and had a block on the next possession, helping the Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks 87-84 Saturday night.
Richard Hamilton scored 28 and Bob Sura added a season-high 13 for the Pistons, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Sura was the 24th player this season to get his highest point total against Atlanta.
Wallace added another free throw and finished with 10 rebounds, well off his season average of 13.
"We're not worried about me scoring," Wallace said. "We erased a lot of mistakes and we took control of the game."
Ninth loss in 10 games
Jason Terry and Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 20 apiece but couldn't stop the Hawks from losing for the ninth time in 10 games. Going back a bit further, they're 6-17 in their past 23.
"It was a war out there, and that's the type of basketball we've got to play," Terry said. "It's going to be urgent from here on out. We've got to leave it all out there on the floor."
Wallace was 0-for-3 from the field but came through at the line after being fouled on a layup with 1:44 left and the score 81-81. Only a 53 percent foul shooter, he swished both shots to give Detroit the lead for good.
Atlanta went to Abdur-Rahim on the next possession, but Wallace blocked his turnaround jumper and corralled the miss. The Pistons worked the ball to Hamilton, who banked in shot from near the top of the key with Dion Glover's hand in his face.
"It's disappointing, it's frustrating, but we battled and competed and they made some big plays," Atlanta coach Terry Stotts said. "The shot that broke our back was a well-contested shot."
The Pistons appeared to be cruising when Chauncey Billups hit a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to give them a 60-47 lead. A night earlier in a loss to the New Orleans Hornets, Stotts benched all of his starters for the remainder of the game after the Hawks fell way behind in the third quarter.
Starters respond
He stuck with them in this one, and they responded with a spirited quarter in which Terry outscored the entire Pistons team, 10-9.
"We took care of things that gave us trouble in the first half -- they didn't get any second-chance points, we outrebounded them, took care of our turnovers," Stotts said.
The Hawks held Detroit to 4-for-21 shooting in the period, and a 3 by Terry gave them a 63-62 lead -- their first since the first quarter. A steal and layup by Terry completed a 20-4 run to make it 67-64 after three.
"It happens in the NBA and the way teams are," Hamilton said. "You have to rally."
Atlanta took a six-point lead on jumper by Theo Ratliff, but the Pistons rallied to tie it at 71 on a jumper by Hamilton, setting up the frantic finish.
"We have to stop putting ourselves in those kind of predicaments," Wallace said of the third-quarter drought. "We have to learn to be a little more consistent."
Notes
The Hawks wore retro uniforms from the 1970-71 team, and the bright green colors appeared to be popular in the third sellout crowd of the season. ... Sura's previous season-high was 10 . ... Atlanta starts a six-game road trip Tuesday night in Washington.