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Hamilton, Pistons spoil Sessions' career night

Feb 8, 2009 - 5:50 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Ramon Sessions did all he could, but Richard Hamilton and the Detroit Pistons made sure it wasn't enough.

Hamilton scored a season-high 36 points and made some crucial free throws down the stretch, leading the Pistons to a wild 126-121 overtime victory over the injury-riddled Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.

"I don't really got time to get warmed up," Hamilton said of coming off the bench. "I've got to come in on fire every time. I just try to play hard, guys did a great job of getting me open looks. Sheed coming off screens and (he) is finally in rhythm and knocking down shots."

Allen Iverson finished with 27 points and nine assists and Rasheed Wallace added 27 with a career-high seven 3-pointers for the Pistons, who have won back-to-back contests.

Sessions poured in a career-high 44 points and handed out 12 assists for the Bucks, who were playing without recently-injured starters Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut and Luke Ridnour.

"Those points and those assists didn't really mean much because we didn't get the win," Sessions said. "Tonight is my career high, but I wish we could have got the win instead of those 44 points."

"He was awesome," Hamilton said of Sessions. "Forty-four points for a point guard against us is crazy. But we've got to do a better job of that. I think that we should have switched it up more when he got a rhythm."

Iverson's three-point play gave Detroit a 121-120 edge with 54 seconds left in the extra session. But Sessions, who spent most of the 2007-08 season in the D-League, responded with a pair of free throws eight ticks later.

The Pistons reclaimed the lead when Iverson provided "The Answer," rattling in a jumper with 28 seconds to play. After Keith Bogans missed his driving attempt, Hamilton knocked down a pair of free throws to extend Detroit's advantage to 124-121 with 15 ticks remaining.

"I think we showed a lot of character tonight, being that we had a lot go against us," Iverson said. "We had some rough calls against us toward the end of the game. We just showed poise and stayed with it and kept playing."

On Milwaukee's ensuing possession, Sessions found Richard Jefferson open in the corner and, after a pump fake on a desperate Tayshaun Prince, Jefferson missed the 3-point attempt. Hamilton then hit another two free throws to put the game away.

"When you grind games out and you win, it's a good thing," Hamilton said. "We want to get on a winning streak before the All-Star break. To get these two wins has been great, now we've got to go home and go on a run."

Sessions scored 14 points in the fourth but squandered a golden opportunity to give the Bucks the lead with 21 seconds left in the quarter, missing his first of two free-throw attempts.

"In the locker room we always knew we could play," Sessions said. "People outside of the locker room maybe thought the season was over, but we're professionals and we're going to bring it every night."

After Hamilton knocked in a catch-and-shoot baseline jumper with 26 ticks remaining to give the Pistons a 109-108 edge, Sessions was fouled on a drive to the basket. The 22-year-old's first attempt rattled out before he tied it with his next attempt.

Antonio McDyess then was charged with an offensive foul, giving Milwaukee a chance to win the contest with 10 seconds to play.

But Charlie Bell forced a pass that was intercepted by Prince, who charged down the court and delivered a pass to Hamilton, who missed a jumper as time expired.

Charlie Villanueva, who had 33 points for Milwaukee, fouled out just 21 seconds into the extra session.

"Well, it hurts obviously, but if you tell (me) going into overtime we're going to score 12 points, I'm going to feel pretty good about that," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. "We couldn't stop them. It's as simple as that."