Streaking Pistons Hit the Wall in Utah

The Utah Jazz -- what was left of the team anyway -- welcomed back its frustrated owner with quite a performance.

With essentially nine players, the Jazz rallied with a dominant second half and beat Detroit, 92-78, Monday night -- holding the Pistons to only 27 points in the second half and snapping their six-game winning streak.

“We are a real inconsistent team and a performance like this makes us happy,” said Andrei Kirilenko, who had 22 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and four blocked shots. “We need to continue to do this kind of job.”

Utah already had its three inactive spots filled and lost another player when point guard Deron Williams didn’t dress because of an ear infection. Center Greg Ostertag lasted barely two minutes before he had to leave because of a sore knee and rookie C.J. Miles never got in the game, leaving only nine players to accomplish what only two other teams have done this season -- beat the Pistons.

Utah owner Larry Miller returned to his courtside seat after skipping eight home games because he was frustrated with his team’s inconsistency.

Utah’s Mehmet Okur finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds against his former team, which was ending a four-game trip after playing the night before against the Clippers.

Detroit made nine of 32 shots in the second half and gave Utah two baskets on goaltending calls in the fourth quarter, when the Jazz outscored the Pistons, 29-12. Detroit also made only eight of 15 free throws in the second half.

The Jazz outrebounded Detroit, 55-27, pulling down 17 offensive boards.

“We seemed to lose our energy,” Piston Coach Flip Saunders said. “They were more aggressive and the team that’s more aggressive is going to get the loose balls, get the calls and have things fall their way.”

Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace scored 16 points apiece for Detroit, which still has the best record in the NBA at 15-3.

New Orleans 91, Phoenix 87 -- J.R. Smith scored a season-high 26 points, including four free throws in the final 17.6 seconds, and the visiting Hornets held on to end a five-game losing streak.

Rookie Chris Paul added 19 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and four steals for the Hornets, playing their third road game in four nights.

New Orleans led, 87-75, with 3:26 left before Phoenix made it interesting with four three-point baskets. Steve Nash even missed on a game-tying attempt while trailing, 87-84.

Raja Bell scored a season-high 24 points for the Suns and Nash added 14 points and 16 assists.

Philadelphia 90, Minnesota 89 -- Chris Webber had 27 points and 21 rebounds, and Allen Iverson added 19 points and 10 assists to help the 76ers win their third in a row and end the Timberwolves’ five-game winning streak in overtime at Philadelphia.

After the 76ers wasted a 10-point lead in the final 4 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, Webber scored the go-ahead basket in overtime and made two key blocks on Kevin Garnett that denied the tying field goals. Minnesota had a final shot with 0.4 seconds left but Garnett’s shot was off the mark.

Wally Szczerbiak had 23 points for Minnesota.

Milwaukee 112, New York 92 -- Reserve Dan Gadzuric had a season-high 18 points at New York to help the Bucks win their third in a row.

Michael Redd finished with 31 points to lead Milwaukee, which has won six of seven and improved to 10-1 against Eastern Conference teams.

Rookie Channing Frye scored a career-high 30 points for the Knicks, who lost their third in a row.

Quentin Richardson rejoined the Knicks, a week after leaving the team following the shooting death of his brother in Chicago. He started and scored five points.