Milwaukee Bucks 113, Detroit Pistons 97: Drew Gooden's third-quarter explosion ... - MLive.com

BUCKS 113, PISTONS 97: Milwaukee goes to 10-6 since Monta Ellis trade.

AP PhotoChubby Checker performed at halftime of the Detroit Pistons' 113-97 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. At 70, he twisted better than the Pistons' defense.

Records: Pistons 22-37; Bucks 29-30.

Big shot: Drew Gooden took over the game as Milwaukee pushed a five-point lead at halftime to 12 after three periods. Of the Bucks' 14 third-quarter field goals, Gooden scored five and assisted five. He finished with 26 points on 12-of-18 shooting, five rebounds and eight assists.

Lots of help: The Bucks had 36 assists on 45 field goals, the most assists allowed by the Pistons in a game this season. The Bucks had a 38-assist game earlier this season.

Lots of points: Two games after allowing a season-high 119 points in a single game, against the Orlando Magic, the Bucks equaled the third-highest-scoring game against the Pistons this season. The second-highest-scoring game was 116, by the Denver Nuggets, in the game when Ben Gordon scored 45 points on 9-of-9 shooting on 3-pointers before that disastrous four-point possession in the final seconds. The New York Knicks also scored 113 points against the Pistons in a game.

Lottery love: The Pistons' loss, in one of the winnable games remaining on their schedule, tightened up the race for the sixth through ninth spots in the draft lottery, with 1 ½ games separating Golden State (22-36), Detroit (22-37), New Jersey (22-38) and Toronto (21-39). The Raptors beat Boston and the Nets beat Philadelphia on Friday.

Playoff motivation: The Bucks are two game behind the Knicks for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and are playing like it. “Right now,” Brandon Jennings said, “we're just playing like this was our last game.” For Pistons coach Lawrence Frank, not matching that intensity when his team knew it was coming was a clear disappointment. “We know â€" and coming up Sunday (against Chicago) is going to be even a bigger challenge â€" is when you're Milwaukee, every game from here on out is a playoff game,” Frank said. “We wanted to treat it like a playoff game. But they did. They're two games behind the eighth seed. So the desperation, the urgency that they play with, that's something that we have to play with. They were much better tonight than we were.”

Injury update: Rodney Stuckey is playing, and isn't officially listed as injured, but his production undoubtedly is down since a string of minor injuries started piling up â€" a pulled hamstring, a bruised left big toe, and most recently a left knee injured when he banged into Jason Richardson on the final play of the first half in Monday's loss at Orlando. Stuckey has scored a total of 18 points in the last three games. He has averaged 20 minutes in those games, with a low of 16 on Friday.

Frank-ly speaking: “You've got to give them credit. They carved us up in that second half. But with that being said, what we can't do is let that steamroll. We felt sorry for ourselves a little bit and they took advantage of it even more. But look, we've all have to be better, starting with me. It's disappointing when you give up 113 points. So I'll take responsibility for that.”

Next up: 6 p.m. Sunday vs. Chicago Bulls (FSD)

Email at David Mayo at dmayo@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo