AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Tayshaun Prince spends most of his

time as a role player for the Detroit Pistons.

On Saturday, he took advantage of an opportunity to take center

stage.

Prince made all eight of his shots in the first half, including

a pair of 3-pointers, and his 20 points helped the Pistons to an

easy 100-85 victory over the short-handed New York Knicks.

"I got a lot of easy buckets out there -- some wide-open jumpers

and a couple of dunks after I ran the floor on a break," he said.

"This is an unselfish team, and we are always going to look for

the guy with the hot hand. Tonight, that was me."

Detroit played without Rasheed Wallace (back), but the Knicks

were down to just nine healthy players with Allan Houston (left

quadriceps), Penny Hardaway (groin) and Tim Thomas (groin) all

sidelined.

"We've got guys out there playing more minutes than they

normally play, and who aren't used to playing together," Knicks

coach Lenny Wilkens said. "That's asking a lot, but I want them to

learn from it."

Ben Wallace added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Pistons, who

ended a two-game losing streak, while Chauncey Billups had 11

points and 13 assists.

"I'm looking to do a better job of getting my teammates

involved," said Billups, who is averaging 8.1 assists in Detroit's

last 10 games. "I think that I can do that and still find ways to

score. This was a good win for us -- we knew they were banged-up,

and we took advantage of that."

DerMarr Johnson led the Knicks with 17, and Vin Baker added 16,

his highest point total since joining New York.

"Every game is like a playoff game right now, because this is

coming down to the wire in the last few games," Baker said. "We

just have to get ready to play and really push it and get the

seventh or eighth spot in the East."

Detroit jumped out to a quick 16-3 lead and never looked back.

They scored 32 points in the first quarter and 35 more in the

second, giving them their highest-scoring half of the season.

The Pistons led by 19 at the half, shooting 61.9 percent from

the floor in the first two periods.

Detroit played a little more defense in the third, outscoring

New York 23-18 to increase their lead to 90-67. They led by as many

as 27 in the fourth.

The fans began chanting for Darko Milicic with nine minutes to

play, and he almost immediately entered the game. The No. 2 pick in

last summer's draft finished the game, but did not score and was

called for a defensive three-second technical foul.

"That kid just does some crazy things," Pistons coach Larry

Brown said. "He needs to be out there, but he has to trying so

hard to please the fans."Game notes
The game was played on the same day as the Michigan high

school finals, which have produced NBA stars like Magic Johnson,

Chris Webber and Jalen Rose. Johnson's alma mater, Lansing Everett,

won the Class A title Saturday afternoon. ... Hamilton, who had

been playing with a facemask to protect his broken nose, started

the second half without it, but put it back on at the first

timeout. ... Rasheed Wallace was in uniform, but spent the entire

game on the bench with an electrical-stimulation machine hooked to

his back. ... DerMarr Johnson started for the first time since the

2001-02 season, when he played for Atlanta.