Pistons Fire Past the Pacers

In a season of steady success, the Indiana Pacers hadn’t had a letdown like this.

Grant Hill had 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Detroit Pistons to a surprising 122-91 rout of the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Detroit’s point total was its highest of the season and the most given up by the Pacers, who hadn’t lost by more than 12 this season.

“We just didn’t come to play tonight,” Indiana Coach Larry Bird said. “This was a game that Detroit just played by themselves, and that’s disappointing.”

Detroit jumped out to a 24-point lead at halftime, scoring a season-high 68 points, and cruised from there.

The Pistons led, 96-63, after three quarters and got the lead to 37 before Indiana made a slight comeback.

The lead was only 36-28 when Detroit blew the game open with a 21-3 run.

Utah 110, Sacramento 95--Karl Malone scored 25 points at Salt Lake City and John Stockton had 16, reaching 15,000 in his career.

Malone scored 12 of his points in the first 7:10 and another 11 in the third quarter when the Jazz outscored the Kings, 33-24, to pull away for their eighth victory in a row.

Stockton made a three-point shot in the third quarter to give him 15,001 points for his 14-year career.

The Jazz played without Jeff Hornacek, who sat out because of a sprained right knee, breaking his string of 299 consecutive games--the seventh longest in the league.

Minnesota 113, Golden State 84--Kevin Garnett scored 22 points in three quarters and the Timberwolves ran past the Warriors at Oakland.

Garnett toyed with the Warriors, making 11 of 17 shots and grabbing nine rebounds before sitting out most of the fourth quarter.

Philadelphia 88, Washington 86--Allen Iverson had 32 points and Calbert Cheaney missed a 14-footer with 1.9 seconds remaining at Philadelphia.

Iverson scored his points on 11-for-21 shooting with five assists.

Cleveland 95, Milwaukee 83--Wesley Person scored 17 points as the Cavaliers, despite getting only six points from Shawn Kemp, beat the injury-riddled Bucks at Cleveland.

Michael Curry scored 16 for Milwaukee, which played without Terrell Brandon and leading scorer Glenn Robinson because of injuries.

Kemp got into early foul trouble, fouled out with 1:22 left and tied his season low with six points.

Charlotte 85, New York 78--Anthony Mason hurt his former team with 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter at Charlotte as the Hornets matched a franchise record with their ninth straight victory.

Atlanta 110, Boston 105--Steve Smith scored 26 points at Boston and the Hawks, despite squandering two big leads, won their fourth consecutive game.

The Celtics fought back from deficits of 15 points in the first quarter and 18 in the third and cut the lead to 89-84 on Antoine Walker’s layup with 11:27 left.

Christian Laettner, who scored only two points in the first three quarters, then scored eight in a 12-7 run that put the Hawks ahead, 101-91.