EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., March 18 (Ticker) -- The arrival of Rasheed Wallace may have tipped the balance in the series between the Detroit Pistons and New Jersey Nets.

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Wallace had 16 points and eight rebounds and Chauncey Billups scored 20 points as the Pistons clinched a playoff spot with their sixth straight win, an 89-71 victory over the Nets.

New Jersey had won six of the previous seven meetings with Detroit, including a sweep in last season's Eastern Conference finals. But this was the first matchup since the Pistons acquired Wallace from the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal on February 19.

"They are a much improved team with Rasheed Wallace. That is a fact," Nets forward Richard Jefferson said. "They are a better defensive team, they have a big man who can shoot, which they didn't have before."

The Nets had trouble handling the new front line of the Pistons, who held a 47-37 rebounding advantage and dominated inside from start to finish.

"It was a big game for us because (the Nets) have been playing great," Detroit coach Larry Brown said. "We have to beat the better teams in our league. This was important for us to establish that we can play with one of the better teams."

Detroit nearly held its sixth straight opponent under 70 points but had its NBA-record streak snapped when forward Aaron Williams tipped in a miss by Hubert Davis with 1.1 seconds left.

"It was important for us to come in here and play well, to get out here and play hard and execute on both ends of the floor," Pistons center Ben Wallace said.

After the teams traded the lead six times in the first quarter, the Pistons dominated the second period. They scored 34 points on 12-of-21 shooting while holding the Nets to 16 points and took a 54-35 advantage into halftime.

Rasheed Wallace received a technical foul for arguing with officials with 9:29 left in the third quarter, drawing cheers from the crowd. He walked to mid-court and pointed to the scoreboard, which showed the Pistons with a 55-41 edge.

New Jersey pulled within 70-63 with 5:44 remaining, but Detroit responded with an 18-2 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Rasheed Wallace.

Richard Hamilton had 15 points and nine rebounds and Ben Wallace added 13 and eight for the Pistons, who reached the postseason for the third consecutive season.

Jefferson scored 19 points to lead the Nets, who have split 12 contests following a team-record 14-game winning streak - the longest in the NBA this season.

"We played inconsistently," Jefferson said. "Our consistency is not there right now. That's why we win and we lose one, that's why we played great one game and the next game we struggled. We have no consistency in our game right now."

Kenyon Martin had 13 points and seven rebounds and fellow All-Star Jason Kidd was held to 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting as New Jersey shot just 35 percent (24-of-68) overall.