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Redd helps Bucks end six-game road slide vs. Pistons

Nov 2, 2006 - 4:06 AM AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- Michael Redd made sure the Milwaukee Bucks put an end to their Motown blues.

Redd scored 37 points as the Bucks snapped their six-game road slide against the Detroit Pistons with a 105-97 triumph in the season opener for both teams.

Redd averaged a whopping 39 points in two visits here last season. The 6-6 sharpshooter picked up right where he left off, connecting on 14-of-22 shots to help Milwaukee capture its first win here since January 11, 2003.

"It was very good and it was kind of reminiscent on how we started the season last year," Redd said. "This is a tough place to play, though, and we played really well. We came out and stuck to our game plan. We were defensive-minded, we rebounded well and played a team game in which everyone contributed."

"When we come into The Palace, where we were something like 0-5 last year, and play like this, it is going to build a lot of confidence for a young team," Bucks coach Terry Stotts added.

The Bucks led the entire way and pushed their lead to 88-75 when Steve Blake found Ruben Patterson for an one-handed alley-oop dunk with 7:20 remaining.

"We've had concern, as I said the last couple of weeks of our training camp, about our sense of urgency at times," Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. "You have to play with emotion and we didn't play with that. It's like we got knocked out early and we never regained. It was like we were in a scramble type situation. We tried to catch up and never could get up over the hump."

Detroit trailed by 10 points at the start of the third quarter but cut the deficit to 59-57 before its frontcourt took a hit as temperamental Rasheed Wallace collected his second technical foul and was ejected at the 7:03 mark.

Charlie Bell's layup with 1:19 left in the third period provided a 78-65 edge for Milwaukee, which never looked back thereafter. A native of nearby Flint, Bell scored 10 points off the bench.

Charlie Villanueva had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Andrew Bogut also scored 16 points for the Bucks, who shot 46 percent (43-of-93) and committed just eight turnovers.

The top pick in the 2005 draft, Bogut returned to the court after sitting out the entire preseason with a lower leg injury.

Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton scored 25 points apiece and Tayshaun Prince added 16 and 11 rebounds for Detroit, which shot 43 percent (31-of-72).

"Once we turned the ball over, things went south as far as energy and everything else," Prince said. "At one point, they had 28 or 29 more attempts at field goals than we did."

The Pistons felt the absence of four-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace, who signed with Chicago in the offseason. They struggled to the protect the interior, giving up 70 points in the paint with 40 coming in the first half.

"On a team like this, it's kind of difficult because our principles are for a guard to stay home on 3-point shooters," said Billups, who handed out eight assists. "When you do that, you're vulnerable to giving up that big pass into the paint. But 70 points is unacceptable."

"Ben is a great shot blocker and a good interior defender, but he's in Chicago," Stotts said. "So I can't compare (Wednesday) to what would have happened with him here. That's a local issue."

Newly acquired Nazr Mohammed had eight points and 12 rebounds before fouling out in his Pistons debut. He came over from San Antonio as a free agent to fill the big void left by Ben Wallace.