Spirited effort still ends in 10th straight loss for Pistons

Spirited effort still ends in 10th straight loss for Pistons

Published Mar. 14, 2015 11:57 p.m. ET

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Trey Burke was coming off a miserable 11 offensive quarters when he redeemed himself with the biggest basket of the night.

Burke took a pass from Gordon Hayward on the left wing and banked in a runner with 13.1 seconds left, the clinching basket for the Utah Jazz in an 88-85 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night that extended their winning streak to a season-high five games.

"It feels good," Burke said. "Just got to stay confident, keep shooting the ball and making aggressive plays for the team."

Burke had made three of his last 24 from the floor before the final shot and had lost minutes to rookie Dante Exum. The Jazz are now 10-2 since the All-Star break.

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Derrick Favors scored 26 points and blocked four shots as the Jazz ran their offense through him for much of the night. Rudy Gobert had 10 points, 19 rebounds and two blocked shots, while the rookie backcourt of Exum and Rodney Hood combined for 20 points.

"I'm improving a lot," Favors said. "Coach trusts me to actually go to me in the post. ... The team's starting to trust me a lot more in the post. They're starting to get me going early.

The Pistons staggered into Salt Lake City on a nine-game losing streak and desperate for a victory. They played an inspired fourth quarter and led midway through the quarter, but the Jazz made plays and the steak extended to 10.

Hood hit a pull-up jumper to take an 84-81 lead. Hayward then threw down a two-handed dunk off a bounce pass from Gobert to give the Jazz an 86-83 lead with 37 seconds remaining.

"That team we played played so hard," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "To come out on a back-to-back and play the way they did, as hard as they did, we were lucky to get out of there."

The Pistons just couldn't get over the hump late.

Greg Monroe led the Pistons with 16 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. Anthony Tolliver added 14 points off the bench.

"When we move the ball we were fine and we wouldn't move it, guys just wanted to dribble the air out of it," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We just didn't do a good job.

"I thought both of our point guards got stuck on the ball. We have some other guys, fatigue they just didn't move the ball.

The anticipated Gobert-Andre Drummond matchup didn't materialize after the Pistons center was diagnosed with a concussion and didn't play after halftime.

TIP-INS

Pistons: Joel Anthony started the second half at center after Andrew Drummond was ruled out with a concussion. ... Shawne Williams was suspended by the league for one game for head-butting Portland Trail Blazers center Joel Freeland on Friday. Freeland was also suspended a game for head-butting Williams.

Jazz: Hood started his second consecutive game. ... Exum saw his minutes continue to increase, notching 31-plus minutes for the third consecutive game. He also played more minutes than Burke for the fourth consecutive game.

BATTLE INSIDE

Gobert said before the game that he looks at statistics from around the league after every game to keep track of other players at his position. Drummond, of course, is one of those players. Drummond had 25 rebounds on Wednesday and Gobert had 22 on Thursday. Drummond entered with 17-plus rebounds in four of five games while Gobert had 11-plus in his last five games.

Drummond finished with four points and two rebounds in 11 minutes after being hit in the head and suffering a concussion. He did not play in the second half.

"He's been putting up some crazy numbers lately, too. We all know what he can do," Gobert said. "You take every game as a challenge, but especially when you have players like that that are very dominant.

"Of course when you see somebody at your position have a big game, you want to do the same. ... Sometimes it can motivate you."

UP NEXT

Pistons: hosts Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday.

Jazz: hosts Charlotte Hornets on Monday.

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