Article:Detroit Pistons Down The Los Angeles Lakers 90 - 89

On an electric night at the Palace of Auburn Hills the Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers in a game that came down to the wire.

The Detroit Pistons lead early with excellent shooting by Richard Hamilton. In the second period they opened their lead on the Los Angeles Lakers by 17 points. Support came from the Detroit Pistons bench with solid scoring from Rodney Stuckey and Aaron Afflalo.

Late in the second, however, the Los Angeles Lakers collected themselves and started a little run. At the half the Los Angeles Lakers had reduced the lead to only 7 points.

The second half featured Kobe Bryant scoring at will as the Detroit Pistons shot 20% from the field. The Los Angeles Lakers caught the Detroit Pistons and took a 5 point lead into the deciding quarter.

The Detroit Pistons would steady themselves with terrific play at the point guard position by rookie Rodney Stuckey. With Rasheed Wallace sitting with his fifth foul early in the fourth, Flip Saunders went to his bench for Amir Johnson.

The play remained close as the lead changed several times(14 lead changes). Turnovers were rampant on both teams as the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons committed 22 and 17 respectively. The game was heading to a showdown in the last seconds. With 4.4 seconds left in the game Tayshaun Prince hit a big three with an assist from Chauncey Billups to give the Detroit Pistons a one point lead. After a timeout by the Los Angeles Lakers they were unable to get a good shot and the Detroit Pistons won a nail-biter at home.

Excellent defense by both teams kept the scoring low. Kobe Bryant would lead the scoring with 39 points in a loosing effort.Tayshaun Prince lead the Detroit Pistons with 22 points. The Detroit Pistons would have five players scoring in double figures while the Los Angeles Lakers only had three. Chauncey Billups had 16 points and 7 assists in a well rounded effort.

The game was paced with 3 Technical Fouls. Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess of the Detroit Pistons receiving those T's

This was the the fourth win in a row for the Detroit Pistons (33-13 in the Central division) and a tough loss for the Los Angeles Lakers (28-16 in the Pacific division) as this was the first of a nine game road trip.

The Detroit Pistons are leading their division and are in second place overall to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference. The Los Angeles Lakers are second in their division and tied for fourth overall with the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference.