AUBURN HILLS, Mich., April 24 (UPI) -- Jerry Stackhouse scored 22 of his 31 points in the second half Wednesday night to rally the Detroit Pistons to a 96-91 victory over the Toronto Raptors for a two games to none lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Last season, Stackhouse averaged 29 points on 24 shots per game, earning an All-Star berth despite the fact the Pistons lost 50 games and missed the playoffs.
This season, first-year coach Rick Carlisle convinced Stackhouse to trust his teammates and share the ball. Stackhouse averaged 21 points on 17 shots and failed to make the All-Star team, but the Pistons won 52 games and their first Central Division title in 12 years.
"It's been a tough year for him in a lot of ways," Carlisle said. "Even though we won, it's a different style of play. We've asked him to change his game more radically than anyone I can remember in 15 years. He's had multiple games in double-figure assists. His shot-making has been there when we needed it. He has had an excellent year."
On many occasions, Stackhouse has allowed a lesser-known teammate to grab the glory. But with home-court advantage and control of the series on the line, he showed he still knows how to take over a game.
"That's been my mentality all my life, so it was not hard to revert back to that," said Stackhouse, who made eight of 22 shots and 11 of 12 free throws. "It's such a great feeling. It's kind of the cycle turned, with me showing so much trust in these guys all season allowing them to step up and make plays.
"When it's key situations like this, everybody is looking for me to make plays. That's what it's all about, a little give and take. Teams have to play all these guys honest now. Everybody on this team commands respect now, so it makes it a little easier in these situations. They didn't know what to do."
Stackhouse scored 13 points in the third quarter, including eight in a row that gave Detroit a 72-65 lead late in the period.
"Jerry was just tremendous," teammate Cliff Robinson said. "He was aggressive and he got to the line when we needed points. He got off to a slow start, but Stack is a scorer. He's not going to get discouraged just because he misses a few shots early."
In the final 5 1/2 minutes, Stackhouse made three three-pointers. The first erased an 83-80 deficit with 5:17 left. The second followed Jon Barry's three-pointer and gave Detroit an 89-85 lead with 3:28 to go. And the third came right in the face of Jerome Williams and widened the advantage to 94-87 with 2:09 remaining.
"We struggled tonight, so we really needed him," said Pistons forward Ben Wallace, the star of Game 1. "He put us on his shoulders and carried us down the stretch."
"He made some big shots, there is no question about it," Raptors coach Lenny Wilkens said. "He's a big-time player. He hit a three right in front of our bench with JYD (Williams) all over him. That three hurt. Just because he is making other people better doesn't mean that he should give up his offense. That would be stupid."
The Pistons survived a potential tying three-pointer by Alvin Williams in the final seconds and became the first team in the 2002 playoffs to open a 2-0 lead. They can wrap up their first playoff series win since 1991 on Saturday with a victory at Toronto.
Barry and Chucky Atkins scored 13 points apiece and Wallace grabbed 15 rebounds for second-seeded Detroit, which shot just 40.5 percent from the field and was beaten on the boards, 50-33. However, the Pistons compensated in other areas, making 27 of 33 free throws and committing just nine turnovers.
Chris Childs had 22 points and 14 assists and Antonio Davis had 21 points and 14 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Raptors, who were much sharper than they were in Sunday's blowout loss but still came up short and are one loss from the end of a tumultuous season.
"I thought today we finally woke up," Childs said. "We had to play a lot harder. The first game, we played like it was a regular-season game. We were just going to go through the motions. You can't do that."
Toronto shot 47.5 percent but made just 11 of 16 foul shots and committed 13 turnovers.
After Stackhouse's flurry late in the third quarter, the Raptors trailed 72-67 heading into the final period. But consecutive baskets by Hakeem Olajuwon and a drive by Childs gave Toronto an 83-80 lead with 5:32 to play.
Davis answered Stackhouse's three-pointer with a long jumper that beat the shot clock. But Barry and Stackhouse connected from the arc to give Detroit the lead for good.
"They didn't panic when we made our runs. They just continued to go to their go to guy in Jerry Stackhouse, who played very well tonight," Davis said. "He stepped up when his team needed him to and hit some big shots."
After Stackhouse's last three-pointer, Davis had a pair of baskets to cut the deficit to 94-91 with 34 seconds to go. The Raptors rebounded a miss by Cliff Robinson but chose not to call timeout. Alvin Williams got an open look from the right wing but left his shot short. Barry rebounded and made the clinching free throws with six seconds left.
Corliss Williamson and Robinson each scored 10 points for the Pistons. Jerome Williams scored 13 points for the Raptors.
