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Jazz break open game in 2nd to drop Pistons, win 4th in row
The Utah Jazz played so well in the second quarter Wednesday, they masked all of their flaws in the other quarters.
The Jazz outscored the Detroit Pistons 35-14 in the second quarter and led by double digits throughout the second half of a 115-104 victory at The Palace. Utah's fourth straight victory, and 23rd in its last 28, kept the Jazz one game behind Denver for the Northwest Division lead. With the reserves scoring 22 points, the Jazz shot 68 percent during those pivotal 12 minutes while holding the Pistons to 31.6 percent shooting. Utah stretched its winning streak over Detroit to 10 games. The Pistons haven't beaten the Jazz since March 2005, three months before Utah drafted point guard Deron Williams. "We played great basketball," Williams said of the second-quarter outburst. "We got a lot of stops, shared the ball and got out in transition. It was a pretty flawless quarter." Williams' club, which scored 132 points against Chicago Tuesday, continued to show why it leads the league in field-goal percentage. Running a pick and roll clinic, Utah shot 56.3 percent from the field and assisted on 35 of its 45 baskets. Coach Jerry Sloan was far from thrilled with his team's overall performance. The Pistons outscored his team in every quarter but the second. It also committed 11 second-half turnovers, which compelled him to put starters Williams, Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko back in the game in the closing minutes. "I tried to substitute a couple of guys and we got cute with the basketball," Sloan said. "We had to win the game. It's not a matter of just making sure we get everybody in the game, it's a matter of winning games. I thought we would know better what to do with it when we tried to finish up. Turnovers and things like that don't give you a chance to relax." While the Jazz give opponents fits with ball movement and execution, they still allow opponents to get too comfortable at the offensive end. The Pistons, who rank second-to-last in scoring, were the seventh team in the last nine games to reach the 100-point mark against Utah. "I thought we played well and then I look at the box score and they outscored us in every quarter except the second," Williams said. "We gave up almost three 30-point quarters, so our defense still isn't where we want it to be." The Pistons defense has been lacking a good portion of the season and it's even softer with starters Ben Wallace and Rodney Stuckey sidelined. Wallace missed his fourth consecutive game with a right patella tendon strain while Stuckey sat out for the second time after his frightening dizzy spell in Cleveland Friday. Detroit gave up a season-high 128 point to New York last week. The 115 points Wednesday was the most it has surrendered at home. "We don't have a large margin for error at this stage right now," Pistons coach John Kuester said. "You can't feel defeated when teams have those types of spurts. Some way, somehow, whether it be offensively, taking the ball to the basket or getting good shots in that situation, or you lock down defensively, [you have] to try to get back in the game. The beginning of the second quarter hurt us." The loss clinched the Pistons' first back-to-back losing seasons since 1993-94 (20-62) and 1994-95 (28-54) as they fell 20 games under .500. Detroit led 29-28 after the first quarter but Williams and backcourt partner Wesley Matthews set the tone with three layups apiece. The Jazz then reeled off 14 unanswered points at the beginning of the second, including two baskets apiece by backups Ronnie Price, Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver. Utah was so unselfish that nine players recorded at least one assist during the first 16 minutes. "We were just running our stuff and we ran our plays perfectly for awhile," Korver said. "The ball wasn't even touching the floor there for a bit. It was pass, pass, screen, shot and we were making the shots. When you are making shots like that, it just naturally gives you a little more energy on the other end and it was just a really good stretch for us." When Kirilenko scored on a Jason Maxiell goaltending call in the final second of the half, the Jazz had a 63-43 lead. "I've always said, if you play back-to-back, you usually shoot the ball better the second night than the first night," Sloan said. "I don't know why but I think the edge is off. Guys play a little bit better." Now, he'd like to see his team defend better. "I'm not worried about scoring," he said. "I'm worried about the defense. We like to score. We have guys who run the floor well and try to pass the ball in situations pretty well but the biggest thing is defensively, we let too many team get on top of the basket." Williams, Mehmet Okur and Millsap scored 18 points apiece to lead Utah. Charlie Villanueva led seven Pistons in double figures with 19.