Kwame Brown stuck his head into the media huddle surrounding Will Bynum following the Pistons’ 104-97 victory against the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday and said, “You better say my name or I won’t set another pick for you the rest of the season. The lineman never gets any credit.”

No, on this night the credit goes to Bynum. With Richard Hamilton ejected and the Pistons trying to shake a three-game losing streak, Bynum scored 26 of his career-best 32 in the fourth quarter. That’s a new franchise record for points in a quarter, topping the old mark of 24 held by Isiah Thomas and Jerry Stackhouse.

“That’s really not me,” Bynum said. “That’s on my teammates and coaching staff. I don’t deserve all the credit. My teammates set the screens and my coaching staff believed in me enough to put the ball in my hands in the fourth quarter. I was just trying to do everything I could to win this game.”

As for whether he wants to coach Iverson again — they were together for six years in Philadelphia — he didn’t bite on that one.

“I don’t want to get into that right now because we don’t know what will happen with us in the draft or in free agency,” he said. “My thing is, some guys who are at the end of their careers you want to see go where they can win a championship. At this stage of Allen’s career, that has to be paramount in his mind. Anybody who thinks they are close (to winning a title), I wouldn’t be surprised if they stepped up and tried to get him.”

Bynum had struggled recently in the fourth quarter of games while spelling starting point guard Rodney Stuckey. Coach Michael Curry warned against Bynum trying to force a shot when the team’s offense struggled and instead suggested he get the ball to the team’s scorers.

But Bynum kept the ball all to himself and worked off screens, hitting running jumpers and floaters. Everything went through the net.

“Will was great all night,” Curry said. “… We ran the (pick-and-roll) with Will and (Tayshaun Prince) and I thought it went really well. (Bynum) made his free throws; that was huge. As I said, Will plays really good basketball as long as he doesn’t turn the basketball over and stays in front of his guy.”

Center Rasheed Wallace returned to the starting lineup for the first time in 15 games and had 12 points and a season-high six assists in 37 minutes. Wallace last started March 9 against Orlando, then missed the next 11 games with a strained left calf.

Coach Michael Curry made the decision to start Wallace after they spoke just before tip-off.

“He actually came to me before the game and just said he feels really good and he would like to start,” Curry said. “So I said, ‘OK.’ “

The magic number for the Pistons is two. The Pistons and Bobcats each have five games left. Any combination of two Detroit wins or two Charlotte losses clinches a playoff spot for the Pistons.

 Jerry Stackhouse. Isiah Thomas. Will Bynum.

Yes, Bynum indeed is in select company following a career-best 32-point effort in Detroit’s 104-97 win against Charlotte on Sunday.

Bynum scored 26 of his points in the fourth quarter, the most ever by a Piston in any quarter of play.

Throughout Arron Afflalo’s career with the Detroit Pistons, rarely does he take center stage. But when called upon, the second-year guard usually comes through.

Sunday night was no different, as Afflalo’s 12 points off the bench played an important role in Detroit’s 104-97 win against Charlotte.

“It’s been a two-year thing, playing when available,” said Afflalo, who made each of his four shot attempts and three 3-pointers. “Mentally, trying to stay tough and smart with the whole situation to where I’m in a situation where the minutes are more stable.”

With Hamilton out, the Pistons relied heavily on a pick-and-roll offense featuring Bynum and Prince, which was a different look from what the Bobcats saw in the first three quarters.

“The thing that causes this team (Charlotte) the most problems, is dribble penetration,” Pistons coach Michael Curry said. “When we got some of it in the first half, they went to the zone and made us stagnant the beginning of the third quarter. When we got Will back in the game, he made it difficult for them to go back into the zone. He just kept attacking pick-and-roll situations.”

There isn’t a while left. The Bobcats fell to 34-42, two games behind the idle Chicago Bulls for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Forward Gerald Wallace, who finished with 21 points and eight rebounds, described the fix they’re in with six games left.

“Now we’re in a (best-of-7) series and down 3-0,” Wallace said.

Andre Iguodala led all scorers with 31 (15 in the first quarter) for the 76ers. Miller had 21 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. His triple-double was the first such performance against the Pistons since the Heat’s Dwayne Wade did it Dec. 30, 2004.

“We brought good focus and effort, but we just made some mistakes,” coach Michael Curry said. “On a night like tonight, you just can’t make that many mistakes.”

The Pistons allowed Iguodala four lob dunks and shot 26.7 percent in the second half (after shooting 50 percent in the first half).

Curry thinks Iverson, 33, still can be a force in the league.

“He’s still a starter in this league; he’s going to have a lot of success,” Curry said. “This was a tough situation this year. As he gets older, he’ll have to do different thing so his body can hold up for the rigors of an NBA season. He’ll probably have to adapt a little bit, because I’m not sure how many teams will be centered just around him, but he’s still a very capable player, and at times this year, he was really, really good for us.

“A lot of things maybe I could have done better, and the players could have done better, and maybe he could have done better. All of us, we haven’t gotten it done this year. By no means do I want to make it seem it was just on Allen.

“The reality is we’re in the position we’re in, and we have to make the most of.”

The 76ers were effective double-teaming Rip Hamilton whenever he would come off a screen. The Pistons countered by moving the ball quickly to the other side of the floor, but the recipient of the pass would often miss as both Antonio McDyess (2-for-9) and Rasheed Wallace (3-for-12) shot poorly.

But Hamilton wasn’t much better, shooting 6-for-17, and scoring 15 points and he missed two good looks down the stretch.

Curry said a training camp with Iverson could have helped. Dumars orchestrated the Chauncey Billups-for-Iverson trade two games into the season.

“I’ve always been a big believer in training camp,” Curry said. “In some of our areas where we struggled while Allen was playing, I think we could have been better in those areas had we been in training camp. I just think getting used to playing with him and him used to playing with the other guys, you could have gotten that done in training camp.

Buoyed by the midseason acquisition of Boris Diaw and Raja Bell from the Phoenix Suns, the Bobcats made a surprising run into playoff contention. Each team has six games left, but it would appear the Pistons might have an edge since the Bobcats have five games on the road. But besides the obvious ramifications of tonight’s game, if the Pistons can get the victory, they would win any tiebreaker with the Bobcats since they would take the season series, 3-1.

With the loss, the Pistons (36-40) have now lost three in a row and are four games below .500 for the first time this season. Meanwhile, Philadelphia (40-35) clinched a playoff berth with the victory.

More importantly, Chicago’s victory over the Nets dropped the Pistons into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons hold a two-game lead over Charlotte, which in ninth in the playoff race in the East. The Bobcats visits Detroit in an important game tonight — a win and Charlotte would be only one game back in the playoff race.

Several Bobcats have stepped up their play lately, but much of the credit for their late season surge has gone to Brown who coached the Pistons for two seasons which includes the 2004 NBA championship squad.

“LB is a great coach,” Hamilton said. “He’s going to have his guys out there fighting until the end.”

The most important of those free throws came from forward Reggie Evans, who was fouled with 30.8 seconds left and the Sixers leading, 90-88.

As Evans walked to the line, Miller mimicked a high release. Evans practiced. A few seconds later, Evans, who entered the game shooting a career-high 61.3 percent from the line, made both.

“He always kids about he wants to shoot the technicals,” deadpanned DiLeo. “So he’s been working hard on free throws.”

With 2:47 left in last night’s game, Tayshaun Prince caught an alley-oop pass and tried to lay it in. On the play, Sixers center Theo Ratliff was called for a foul.

Prince then appeared to land awkwardly on his left knee. He stayed down for a few minutes before walking off under his own power. Prince didn’t miss a second and made 1 of 2 free throws.