Richard Hamilton scored a season-high 40 points to lead the Detroit Pistons past former coach Larry Brown and the New York Knicks 106-98 Friday.
Brown returned to an NBA city he used to call home for the seventh time, but acknowledged this reunion was different. The Hall of Fame coach was fired in July, after insisting publicly he wanted to return. He filled the only void on his resume during a two-year stint in Detroit with his first NBA title in 2004 and came just short of repeating last season.
After the score was tied at halftime, the Pistons outscored New York 24-8 to take an 83-67 lead into the fourth quarter. New York didn't pose much of a comeback threat after that.
The Pistons improved to an NBA-best 12-2 and the Knicks fell to 5-10.
Detroit's Tayshaun Prince had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Ben Wallace added 15 points and 11 rebounds and Chauncey Billups had 11 points and 11 assists, tying a season high.
Raptors 102, Hawks 101
At Atlanta, Georgia rookie Charlie Villanueva scored 22 points, including the go-ahead basket with 2.5 seconds left, as Toronto ended a six-game losing streak with a win over Atlanta in the matchup of the two worst records in the league.
Toronto, winning on the road for the first time this season, won for only the second time in 17 games.
Chris Bosh led Toronto with 23 points. Villanueva added 10 rebounds.
The Raptors led most of the game, but there were three ties in the final 3 minutes.
Joe Johnson set a career-high with 34 points, but it wasn't enough to keep Atlanta (2-13) from its fourth straight loss.
Bucks 105, Wizards 102
At Washington, Maurice Williams scored 14 of his career-high 35 points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, to lead Milwaukee over Washington.
Washington's Caron Butler matched his season-high with 27 points and made two free throws with 1:05 left that tied the game at 100-all.
Williams responded with a tough runner off the glass that gave the Bucks a 102-100 lead with 49 seconds remaining.
Gilbert Arenas, who led the Wizards with 34 points, tied it at 102 with a layup with 43 seconds left. Bucks center Jamaal Magloire missed a hook shot 10 seconds later, but teammate T.J. Ford drew a charge on Arenas with 13 seconds left, setting up Williams' game-winner.
Bulls 106, Celtics 102
At Boston, Luol Deng scored 10 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and Ben Gordon added 20 points, including a thunderous go-ahead dunk with just over three minutes remaining, to lead Chicago over Boston.
Andres Nocioni scored 16 points for the Bulls, who have won five of six. Chris Duhon added 11 points, including four critical free throws in the final seconds, and finished with seven assists.
Paul Pierce had 43 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Celtics. Ricky Davis scored 12 points on 3-for-11 shooting.
Hornets 88, 76ers 86
At Oklahoma City, David West scored 22 points, including a tiebreaking layup with 50.4 seconds left, to lift New Orleans over Philadelphia.
After a missed jumper by Speedy Claxton caromed off the rim and backboard, West grabbed the ball and put it back to give New Orleans an 88-86 lead.
Claxton drew a charging foul against Chris Webber on Philadelphia's next possession, but Desmond Mason's miss gave the Sixers one last chance. Andre Iguodala grabbed the rebound and passed to Allen Iverson, who rushed up the court and missed a 3-pointer from the left wing as the buzzer sounded.
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