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Pistons look to rebound vs. Butler, Wizards

Mar 23, 2008 - 1:30 PM Detroit (49-19) at Washington (35-33) 8:00 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - The Detroit Pistons will try to bounce back on Sunday when they visit the Washington Wizards.

Last time out, Detroit came up on the short end of things on the road in Wednesday's lackluster 89-73 loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Pistons guard Richard Hamilton is averaging 18.5 points over 19 career games against Washington, which drafted him seventh overall in 1999 before sending him to Detroit in 2002.

In their lone meeting this season, Hamilton poured in 20 points to lead six others in double figures in Detroit's 106-93 win here on January 2.

The Wizards picked up their fifth win in six games with Friday's convincing 103-86 victory over the reeling Miami Heat. All-Star Caron Butler led the way with 25 points.

It was just Butler's first 20-point effort since returning five games ago from a strained hip flexor that kept him out out for 16 contests.

"I was just trying to assert myself early and try to establish a rhythm because when you are playing games like this, you want to put teams away," said Butler, who is averaging 22.8 points in his last eight games against Detroit.

Washington enters with just one-half game lead over the Toronto Raptors (35-34) for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 14 games remaining of the season.