AUBURN HILLS -- The Detroit Pistons talked about hitting Utah with a good start and keeping the pressure on.
Scratch that idea. They hit shots early, but didn't have enough at the end and Utah slipped away with a grueling 120-114 double-overtime win Friday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills. "They are a very physical team, and you know, they made shots down the stretch," Detroit's Richard Hamilton said.
The Jazz ran their winning streak against the Pistons to seven games, the longest by any team.
"This has been bananas, been crazy," Hamilton said.
Allen Iverson had his top scoring night as a Piston with 38 points, and made a driving layup with less than a minute remaining in the second overtime to pull the Pistons within two points.
The Jazz, taking advantage of four Pistons fouling out of the game, put the game away with a rainbow 3-point shot by Kyle Korver with 41.3 seconds remaining and added free throws.
The Pistons, who had 34 fouls compared to 21 for Utah, started fouling out down the stretch. Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey and Antonio McDyess each had the maximum six fouls before the two overtimes were complete.
Detroit coach Michael Curry wouldn't bite on the question about four players fouling out.
"I was pleased overall with what the guys did," he said. "I was pleased we played to our strengths. We just didn't play well enough to win the game."
Utah point guard Deron Williams proved especially hard to handle. He had only two points in the first quarter, but 17 by halftime and finished with 29 points and eight assists.
His jumper with 2.3 seconds remaining in regulation put the Jazz up 98-96. Hamilton answered, however, with a baseline jumper with four-tenths of a second remaining to tie the score and force overtime.
