|
 Burke pumped in 20 points and had a career-high 12 assists to
propel the Jazz to a 110-89 romp past Detroit on Friday night at The
Palace.
Burke, who led the University of Michigan to the national
championship game last season, got a measure of revenge against the
Michigan pro team that overlooked him. The player Detroit selected
ahead of Burke, shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, was limited
to five points.
"It's always in the back of your mind whenever you play against a
team that looked past you, but I didn't want to come out and try to
do too much," Burke said of the revenge factor. "Obviously, being a
competitor my whole life, I wanted to come out there and really
compete against these guys and try to get a win for this team. I
think I did a good job of getting guys going early and trying to set
everybody else up and pick my spots out there."
Burke went scoreless with two turnovers in the first quarter but
once he returned in the second quarter, he found his groove. Burke
had seven points and three assists in the quarter, then lit up the
Pistons with 13 points and seven assists after the break.
"I'm not even going to lie, I came out a little excited," he said.
"Once I was able to sit down and see the game from a different
perspective, I was able to relax and just play."
His teammates seemed just as inspired. The Jazz shot 54.4 percent
from the field and out-rebounded Detroit 43-32.
"They're a great offensive rebounding team and we did a good job of
team rebounding," Utah coach Ty Corbin said. "It wasn't one or two
guys, I thought everybody got in there and got their share."
Center Enes Kanter had 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench
for the Jazz. Power forward Marvin Williams supplied 17 points and
seven rebounds and small forward Richard Jefferson added 13 points.
Utah (14-27), which scored 16 straight points during a stretch
spanning the second and third quarters to take command, has won 15
of the last 16 meetings.
Jazz leading scorer Gordon Hayward missed his fourth consecutive
game with a left hip flexor.
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Reserve guard Rodney Stuckey led Detroit (16-23), which has
lost six of its last seven home games, with 21 points. Forward
Kyle Singler contributed 13 points and center Andre Drummond
posted his Eastern Conference-leading 28th double-double with 10
points and 13 rebounds.
Drummond only attempted five shots while making three turnovers.
His frontcourt partners, Josh Smith and Greg Monroe, were no
shows. They combined for eight points, three rebounds and three
turnovers while shooting 2-for-13 from the field. That trio
entered the game averaging a combined 43.1 points and 28.7
rebounds.
"We came out hot in the beginning, played well, and then like
what's been happening to us in the second half, we fell asleep
and came out with a loss," Drummond said.
Detroit had five days off but looked lethargic instead of
refreshed.
"It was unexplainable to me," coach Mo Cheeks said. "Maybe the
days off affected us in terms of getting up and down the floor,
to continue playing the way we had practiced for the last four
days. Maybe it was just that we were off for so long."
NOTES: Utah hasn't lost a season series to Detroit since
2002-03. The teams play again in Utah on March 24. ... Pistons G
Rodney Stuckey was assessed a flagrant-one foul during the
second quarter for bumping Jazz SG Alec Burks. ... The Pistons
rank last in the NBA in free-throw shooting (66.2 percent) and
3-point shooting (31.2 percent). ... Detroit began a stretch of
eight games in 13 nights. ... Jazz rookie PG Trey Burke reached
double figures in scoring in 22 of his first 28 games. "He's
learned a lot and he has a lot more to learn," Utah coach Ty
Corbin said. "He's coming in every day to work to get better. As
he gets better, we will be better." ... Pistons PG Brandon
Jennings has at least 10 assists in 14 games this season after
posting double digits in assists 13 times in 80 games with
Milwaukee last season. ... The Jazz have six players age 22 or
younger on the roster, the most in the league. ... Utah hit the
midway point of the regular season without a winning streak of
more than two games.
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