Los Angeles Lakers guard
Kobe Bryant (left) drives past Detroit Pistons guard Richard
Hamilton and forward Jason Maxiell (right) in the second half in
Auburn Hills, Michigan, on Thursday. Bryant led all players with 39
points in an 89-90 loss to the Pistons.
Tayshaun Prince's three-pointer with four seconds left fired the
Detroit Pistons to a 90-89 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on
Thursday.
Detroit's ninth consecutive home win over Los Angeles was
achieved despite 39 points and 10 rebounds from the Lakers' Kobe
Bryant.
Prince scored the winner after chasing down a missed
three-pointer by teammate Rasheed Wallace and getting the ball to
Chauncey Billups, who found Prince alone on the left wing.
"Chauncey made the perfect play," Prince told reporters.
"Usually when you get an offensive rebound, you get the draw and
kick and the probability is of a high-percentage shot."
Prince led Detroit with 22 points; Billups got 16 and Richard
Hamilton 14. Derek Fisher added 15 points for Los Angeles.
In other National Basketball Association games, it was: Celtics
96, Mavericks 90; Spurs 84, Suns 81; SuperSonics 101, Cavaliers
95.
At the Palace on Auburn Hill, Bryant had rallied the Lakers from
a 17-point first-half deficit with 10 successive points in the
third period. That gave Los Angeles a 62-58 advantage with 4:18
left in the period.
"We had done a good job defensively (on him)," Detroit coach
Flip Saunders said. "He had 11 turnovers. But when he gets it going
like that. I mean, the guy has scored 81 in a game."
A tight game followed with the Lakers leading 89-87 on Ronny
Turiaf's free throw with 17 seconds to play before Prince nailed
his three-pointer.
Los Angeles still had a chance but Lamar Odom missed a jumper
with two seconds to go.
In Boston, the NBA-leading Celtics hung on to beat Dallas,
denying the Mavericks' bid to go top of the Southwest Division.
Point guard Rajon Rondo had a season-high 12 rebounds, following
one of them with a putback layup with 42 seconds left to give the
Celtics the lead.
The Celtics, which had lost 5 of 11 to take some sheen off a
record-breaking start to the season, remain unbeaten against
Western Conference teams.
In Phoenix, an undermanned San Antonio rallied to beat Phoenix
and end a three-game losing streak.
Tim Duncan banked in a shot with 30.9 seconds remaining, and
Manu Ginobili hit four late free throws to secure victory.
Ginobili finished with 19 points, including 12-of-12 from the
line, while Duncan had 16 points and 17 rebounds.
Defeat cost the Suns the chance to take the lead in the Western
Conference.
In Seattle, the home side held off a late surge to beat
Cleveland, which played without LeBron James.
Chris Wilcox scored Seattle's first 10 points and Kevin Durant
had 12 of his 24 in the first quarter, to give the Sonics an early
advantage.
Two nights after snapping their franchise-record, 14-game losing
streak by beating NBA champion San Antonio, the Sonics took out the
reigning Eastern Conference champ.
James sat out the game after spraining an ankle on
Wednesday.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily February 2, 2008)
