Pistons 120, Jazz 114
Rodney Stuckey had 28 points and eight assists in his return to the starting lineup and Greg Monroe grabbed 16 rebounds as the Detroit Pistons did their best to put Friday’s events behind them with a 120-116 victory over the visiting Utah Jazz on Saturday.
Stucky, Austin Daye and Chris Wilcox were back in the starting lineup following a one-game benching for skipping Friday morning’s shootaround. Whether it was a player protest against coach John Kuester or a perfect storm of events that kept half the team from attending, the Pistons are doing their best to put the whole situation behind them.
None of the players involved wanted to discuss the incident prior to the game. Kuester simply said he was over it and the team had to move on.
Beating the Jazz was a good start as Daye, who had 18 points, combined with Will Bynum to score 11 points in a row late in the game for the Pistons, who ended a three-game losing streak. It was just their second win in eight tries.
Paul Millsap had 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Al Jefferson had 20 points and nine rebounds for the Jazz, who have lost six of their last seven to fall a game behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.