Hawks keep Pistons winless on Sundays

Mike Bibby put an end to Detroit's domination of the Hawks, scoring a season-high 27 points in an 85-78 win over the Pistons yesterday in Atlanta.

Detroit trailed by 18 points early in the second half before launching a steady comeback in the matchup of second-place teams.

The Pistons cut the lead to 80-76 on a basket by Rasheed Wallace (20 points) with 2:30 remaining, but Bibby answered with a jumper.

With Atlanta leading, 83-78, Detroit called time out with 20 seconds left. Joe Johnson (19 points) grabbed the rebound on a miss by Tayshaun Prince and hit two free throws to seal the win.

Richard Hamilton had 16 points for Detroit before he was ejected with 1:14 remaining. Hamilton drew the technical from official Rodney Mott as he walked toward the Detroit bench after taking an apparent hit and falling to one knee under the Hawks basket.

The Pistons swept the four-game series with the Hawks last season, but each of the games came before Atlanta acquired Bibby from Sacramento Feb. 16. Detroit had won 12 of the last 16 games in the series in Atlanta.

The Pistons fell to 0-6 on Sunday. They are 14-5 on other days.

Cavaliers 102, Thunder 91 - LeBron James scored 31 points and Mo Williams added 20 as Cleveland finished a four-game road trip by beating Oklahoma City.

James eclipsed 30 points for the fourth straight game, but the Cavaliers needed more time to deliver the knockout punch to the Thunder than in the teams' first meeting.

Cleveland dominated that game and ended up with a 35-point rout, but this time couldn't take a double-digit lead until the end of the third quarter.

James delivered that with a drive to the bucket for a 3-point play and an 82-72 edge. He added a dunk during a 12-3 run that extended Cleveland's lead to 18 points and put the game away. Kevin Durant scored 26 for the Thunder. Russell Westbrook added 24 points and matched his career-high with 11 assists and Jeff Green scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Delonte West hit his first five shots and finished with 18 points against his former team as Cleveland won for the 22d time in 24 games to extend the best start in team history.

The Thunder couldn't get a stop early on as the Cavaliers hit seven of their first eight shots to go up, 14-7, but this one didn't get away like the teams' earlier meeting in Cleveland. It stayed close through the rest of the first half, and Cleveland needed an 8-2 spurt to lead, 52-47, at the half.

Mavericks 97, Wizards 86 -Jason Terry scored 25 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 23, helping Dallas hand host Washington its sixth straight loss.

Washington tied a 42-year-old franchise record for worst start - the 1966-67 Baltimore Bullets also started 4-21. The win was Dallas' 13th in 17 games, even though the Mavericks made only 5 of 30 3-pointers.

Terry made two straight 3-pointers in the final seconds of the third quarter to give Dallas a 70-68 lead and Nowitzki sank three straight jumpers to start the fourth quarter.

After Caron Butler hit on a 3-point play and hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 81-76 with 6:22 to play, Terry made two field goals and Devean George a dunk for an 87-76 lead with 5:09 left.