 Jerry Stackhouse and the Pistons are rude hosts to the Nets. Greg Shamus/NBAE/Getty Images 56k | 300k |
Stackhouse scored seven points in a decisive first-quarter run as the Pistons played their home opener before 22,076 at The Palace at Auburn Hills.
Clifford Robinson made a short baseline jumper to put the Pistons ahead for good, 15-13, with 5:52 to play in the opening quarter. Chucky Atkins capped the 16-3 burst with 1-of-2 free throws for a 29-16 advantage with 70 seconds to go in the period.
"I thought our first half was exceptionally good," Detroit coach Rick Carlisle said. "Of course, you build a big lead and you worry about Jason Kidd and you worry about them getting back into it. We held them off and that's really the key thing. The second unit played really well. Corliss (Williamson) gave us a lift offensively."
Stackhouse and Robinson each scored nine points in the first quarter, when Detroit shot 59 percent (10-for-17) from the field.
New Jersey helped Detroit extend its lead in the second quarter by committing nine turnovers that led to 10 points. Jon Barry, who had seven points and five boards off the bench, made a basket to cap a 6-0 surge and give the Pistons their largest lead, 50-28, with 5:15 left in the second.
"We forced them into a lot of tough shots," Barry said. "We got our hands on a lot of balls. When you force turnovers, it makes it that much easier to score. Our starters have played better and have had leads that we came in and maintained."
Robinson finished with 18 points while reserves Atkins and Williamson contributed 15 and 12, respectively, as the Pistons defeated the Nets for the sixth straight time.
Rookie Richard Jefferson scored a season-high 17 points in 24 minutes off the bench and Kidd added 16 and six rebounds for the Nets, who were trying to go 3-0 for the first time since the 1997-98 season, the last time they made the playoffs.
Backup guard Derrick Dial scored 13 points in 21 minutes for New Jersey, which shot 41.5 percent (34-for-82) and committed 20 turnovers. The Nets have not won in Detroit since February 5, 1994, when coach Byron Scott was playing for the Indiana Pacers.
"There wasn't anything I liked about that," Scott said. "We turned the ball over too much and they just outworked us. That's the bottom line, they just played harder than we did. I don't know if we were just going to walk in here and just win the game. Defensively, they took us out of everything. We got selfish on the offensive end and didn't play together on both ends of the court. And they whooped us pretty good."
The Pistons shot 56 percent (20-for-36) in the first half and took a 56-40 lead into the locker room.
Detroit maintained a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter and opened the fourth with an 80-64 advantage.
Dial started and capped an 11-0 run, pulling the Nets within 93-85 with an 18-footer from the left wing with 2:58 to go. Ben Wallace answered with a dunk 20 seconds later and after two missed shots and a turnover by Kidd, Michael Curry sank a pair of free throws to put Detroit ahead, 97-85, with 79 seconds left.
"We came out and established the tempo on defense," said Wallace, who had 10 points, 10 boards and three blocked shots. "Then things were easier on the other end. We came out and we made things happen defensively, which caused some fast breaks. We said in practice we wanted to contain Kidd, and we did that early. He wasn't able to get any easy points. Basketball is all about runs. We knew they'd make theirs sooner or later."