EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., April 16 (Ticker) -- Chucky Atkins led a balanced scoring attack with 21 points, including a clutch 3-pointer, as the Detroit Pistons defeated the New Jersey Nets, 103-98, in a battle of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.

Detroit (49-32) clinched the second-best record in the East with the win. New Jersey (51-30) had already secured home-court advantage throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.

After Corliss Williamson's jump shot gave the Pistons a 91-81 lead with 3:56 remaining, Richard Jefferson countered with a dunk and Kerry Kittles hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the last at 2:34 to make it 91-89.

But Atkins responded with a 3-pointer of his own with 2:12 left to give Detroit a 94-89 cushion, and after Aaron Williams made a layup, Jon Barry connected from the arc to extend the Pistons' advantage to 97-91. New Jersey got no closer than four points thereafter.

NBA TV highlights from Pistons-Nets: 56k | 300k Big Ben blocks Nets: 56k | 300k Clifford Robinson scored nine of his 15 points in the first quarter to get the Pistons started. Noren Trotman NBAE/Getty Images

Barry added 17 points and Clifford Robinson 15 for the Pistons, who had six players reach double figures.

Kittles had a season-high 30 points to pace New Jersey, which played without injured center Todd MacCulloch, and forward Kenyon Martin was not with the team for personal reasons.

"We came to compete," Kittles said. "Last game (a 101-82 loss at Toronto on Sunday) we didn't compete. Toronto did whatever they wanted to, so tonight we wanted to really come out and just be focused on competing. I looked to score more, I looked to get my shot off. I did a good job of getting myself open and teammates finding me."

"I respect the fact that they did not have all their players, but I thought they played very hard," Pistons coach Rick Carlisle said. "Kittles had a great, great game and we were lucky to overcome him."

Jason Kidd' had just seven points on 3-of-16 shooting but had 11 assists and set the franchise record with his 802nd assist on Jefferson's dunk with 3:47 left. Kevin Porter set the record during the 1977-78 campaign.

"I didn't think I was going to be able to reach it," Kidd said. "To obtain that it goes a lot towards my teammates because they put the ball in the basket."

"These last few games are really tough to judge," said Jefferson, who had 14 points. "You are resting some guys. We are playing aganst some teams that have a lot more on the line than we do. We are just trying to get rest for Saturday's playoff game."

After New Jersey matched its biggest lead, 69-59, on a dunk by Keith Van Horn with 3:05 remaining in the third quarter, Atkins hit consecutive 3-pointers, Barry scored on a reverse layup and Williamson scored on a driving dunk to tie the contest heading into the fourth quarter.

Williamson commenced the final period with a driving layup to give the Pistons the lead for good at 71-69 wiht 11:30 left. Fellow reserve and former Net Damon Jones next hit a 3-pointer to extend Detroit's edge to five points, and New Jersey got no closer than 91-89 thereafter.

"The bench got the lead back after we got down by 10," Carlisle said. "They gave us the energy and gave us the shotmaking, and for the most part gave us stops. We had key shotmaking by Corliss, Jon and Chucky, (which) was the difference down the stretch."

"They've been doing it all year, coming in and coming up big for us," said Ben Wallace, who had 14 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks. "We don't expect anything less out of them. It wasn't anything different tonight, they just got us out of a bad situation. I think (that) is defintely a plus going into the playoffs knowing we can go on the road and win."

Barry and Williamson, who had 14 points, helped Detroit's bench outscore New Jersey's reserves, 40-17.

"We were really happy that we were able to come in and give the team a spark coming off the bench," Williamson said. "That is what we needed tonight to get the win. And now we just look forward to tomorrow."

New Jersey concludes the regular season at New York on Wednesday, while Detroit hosts Milwaukee.