Richard Hamilton, the NBA's masked man, didn't hide his feelings about the Pistons' porous play in the final minutes of their triple-overtime loss at the Garden last night.

Hamilton scored a career-high 51 points but had little to celebrate after Jamal Crawford & Co. made all the right plays in the final minutes of the final three frames of the Knicks' 151-145 win.

"It's tough, man, because we had more than one opportunity to win the game," Hamilton said. "But we just made boneheaded moves down the stretch.

"We know late-game situations, we know how to win," he added. "But we pretty much let this one slip out the door tonight."

Channing Frye forced the third overtime with a buzzer-beating jumper, Jamal Crawford took over from there and the Knicks outlasted Richard Hamilton and the Pistons 151-145 Wednesday night.

The Knicks withstood their third overtime game in 10 days and Hamilton's career-high 51 points, the first 50-point game against them since Michael Jordan accomplished the feat in 1997. They improved to 4-0 in OT this season, including a pair of triple-overtime games. New York won at Memphis in its season opener.

Following a 92-91 defeat to the Pistons at the Palace last night, two of the Nets' leaders blasted officials for not calling a foul against the Pistons on Vince Carter's potential game-winning shot with 1.6 seconds left.

Every Net protested on the court after Rasheed Wallace and Carter bumped up against each other while Wallace was defending Carter's 18-footer, which clanked off the back rim. But after the game, Lawrence Frank and Jason Kidd went an extra step, blasting official Tom Washington, the referee who was the closest to the play.

After referring to the whole crew as "the three blind mice," Kidd singled out Washington, saying, "Tom being a veteran referee, you'd expect him to have the (courage) to blow (the whistle) but I guess he lost his breath."

"It's obviously a foul," said Frank. "I'm sure if it was looked over again they would say it's a foul. But the call wasn't made. It's a shame. It's a real shame."

Detroit Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace will miss the next two games with an ankle injury.

Team president of basketball operations Joe Dumars made the announcement Friday, saying Wallace will sit out Saturday's game at New Jersey and against Seattle at The Palace on Sunday.

Flip Murray signed a two-year deal with Detroit during the summer, but is likely that he will opt-out in order to test the waters.  Murray's desire is to start, something that will not be possible as long as Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton are in Detroit.

"That's the kind of basketball I have played my whole life," said Murray, 27, who wound up scoring 13 points in 30 minutes. "I've always been in that situation (No. 1 option). I just haven't found the right comfort zone in the NBA yet, where I can be that person.

"I am just a little piece to this puzzle, man," Murray said. "I come out and try to play and do whatever I can to help the team. But I know I am not the first option, or the second, third or fourth option, when I am out there. Whatever (play) they call, it's my job to get the ball to that person. When things break down, and I have an opportunity to make things happen, I'll do it."

Late in Thursday night's game, Pistons guard Chauncey Billups tweaked his right hamstring and was visibly in pain as he played out the final three minutes with the injury.

There were a number of possessions in the last couple of minutes where Billups wasn't able to turn the corner on offense, and struggled mightily to stay with him man defensively.

"I couldn't move. I just couldn't move," said Billups, who had 12 points and 11 assists along with a season-high five steals.

Billups was asked afterward if he thought the injury would keep him from playing against Orlando tonight.

"I don't know," he said. "I hope not. I never had a hamstring (injury), I know I didn't pull it too bad. But I could feel it's short right now."

Lindsey Hunter has been trying to play through the pain in his right ankle and leg the past week. Monday, he decided to shut it down.

"It's not healing," said Hunter, who turned 36 on Sunday.

"We are going to try and give it a little rest and then get the engine cranked back up."

Detroit Pistons center Dale Davis rejoined the team on Sunday and didn't score in 12 minutes, two days after he was acquitted of assault charges stemming from an incident with Miami Beach police.

Joe Dumars isn't sure if the Pistons will make a trade before the February deadline, but one name that keeps popping up is Mike James.  

James was a member of the 2004 championship team and has remained close to several Pistons, including Hunter and Rasheed Wallace.

Pistons center Dale Davis was acquitted Friday on assault charges stemming from an altercation with police.

After deliberating for nearly two hours, the jury found Davis -- shocked with a stun gun by police -- not guilty of three counts of assault, one count of assault on a law officer and one count of resisting an officer without violence.