Game 25: Sunday afternoon at the Palace of Auburn Hills
Unlike Friday night in Charlotte, the Jazz actually came out with some energy. Their 32-point first quarter served notice that they wouldn't sleepwalk through the entire game like they did in their previous outing. Instead, they only sleepwalked through the second half.A 10-0 Pistons run opened the third quarter, and Detroit nearly repeated it at the start of the fourth, scoring the first eight of the period. That's how a 16-point halftime lead can evaporate in a hurry.
Last year, the Jazz had perhaps their best run of the season when Greg Ostertag was out with a broken leg. But they missed him dearly this time after he was ejected late in the third quarter for arguing after he was called with a foul. The Jazz still led 74-58 at the time. Jerry Sloan picked up a technical of his own one minute into the fourth quarter. From that point, Utah appeared more concerned with the officiating than with the Pistons.
Before they knew it, the game was close again and the crowd -- which hadn't been a factor -- finally had something to cheer about. Fact is, championship-caliber teams should have more poise than the Jazz showed on Sunday. -- Loren Jorgensen
RECORDS: Jazz (19-6); Pisons (14-11)
NEXT UP: Miami at Jazz, Tuesday, 6 p.m. at the Delta Center, TNT (Cable)
1st 2nd
Jazz 32 Jazz 17
Pistons 17 Pistons 16
Malone 10 pts. Keefe 6 rebs.
3rd 4th
Jazz 27 Pistons 30
Pistons 27 Jazz 14
Ostertag tossed Stackhouse 13 pts.
Overtime
Pistons 14 Jazz 11
Pistons 6-of-10 FG shooting
FG FT Reb
UTAH Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Malone 48 9-23 13-20 4-12 3 3 31
Russell 38 6-9 1-3 1-11 1 6 15
Ostertag 28 1-6 6-7 2-6 0 4 8
Stockton 33 6-11 2-4 0-1 9 1 15
Hornacek 36 3-9 6-6 1-3 8 5 12
Eisley 20 1-1 5-6 0-2 2 4 7
Keefe 10 1-1 0-0 3-8 2 2 2
Anderson 21 3-7 0-0 0-1 1 1 6
Bailey 12 0-2 3-4 2-2 0 1 3
Foster 11 0-1 0-0 0-3 0 5 0
Fuller 7 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 2
Vaughn 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 265 31-72 36-50 13-50 26 33 101
Percentages: FG .431, FT .720. 3-Point Goals: 3-10, .300 (Russell 2-5, Stockton 1-3, Hornacek 0-1, Anderson 0-1). Team Rebounds: 15. Blocked Shots: 4 (Bailey 2, Ostertag, Keefe). Turnovers: 18 (Eisley 5, Stockton 3, Malone 3, Anderson 3, Ostertag 2, Russell, Hornacek). Steals: 3 (Russell, Stockton, Malone). Technical Fouls: Ostertag 2, 1:05 third; Coach Sloan, 11:00 fourth. Ejected: Ostertag, 1:05 third. Illegal Defense: None.
FG FT Reb
DETR Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Hill 44 10-23 9-15 4-13 11 3 29
Reid 12 2-5 0-0 2-4 0 4 4
Dele 31 4-12 3-4 3-8 1 4 11
Dumars 16 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0 3
Hunter 31 4-10 0-2 1-3 3 4 11
Laettner 30 1-10 2-4 1-1 1 5 4
Stackhouse 42 9-17 11-17 1-4 4 1 32
Montross 11 2-3 0-0 2-5 0 4 4
Buechler 12 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 2 0
Williams 19 1-2 1-3 5-6 0 2 3
Reeves 14 1-1 1-2 1-2 0 5 3
Vaught 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Totals 265 35-88 27-47 21-49 22 34 104
Percentages: FG .398, FT .574. 3-Point Goals: 7-10, .700 (Hunter 3-4, Stackhouse 3-4, Dumars 1-2). Team Rebounds: 14. Blocked Shots: 2 (Reid, Dele). Turnovers: 10 (Hill 5, Hunter 3, Stackhouse 2). Steals: 13 (Stackhouse 3, Hunter 2, Williams 2, Hill 2, Dele 2, Laettner, Reeves). Technical Fouls: Coach Gentry, 6:28 first; Assistant coach Hammond, 6:28 first; Illegal Defense, 5:03 fourth. Illegal Defense: 1. A--19,098 (22,076). T--2:45.
Officials--Joe Forte, Mark Wunderlich, Dee Kantner.