Pistons' rally falls short in Charlotte
12/28/2010CHARLOTTE — D.J. Augustin scored 27 points, Stephen Jackson added 23, and the new-look, uptempo Charlotte Bobcats held on to beat the Detroit Pistons 105-100 Monday night to give interim coach Paul Silas a victory in his debut.
With Silas using new combinations and forcing the pace after replacing the fired Larry Brown last week, the Bobcats built a 23-point lead and then nearly wasted it all.
Ben Gordon missed two tying 3-point attempts in the closing seconds before Tyrus Thomas' two free throws with a second left finally put it away for the Bobcats, who snapped a four-game losing streak.
Charlie Villanueva scored 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting for the Pistons, who lost their second straight.
The Bobcats made Silas sweat out the victory in his first game on the bench since he was fired by Cleveland more than five years ago.
The Pistons, seemingly out of it after Charlotte's dominant second quarter, got within 101-100 on Chris Wilcox's two free throws with 1:01 left. Thomas responded with a putback of Augustin's missed layup and a block of Will Bynum's layup on the next two possessions.
Augustin then let the shot clock run down too far before feeding Boris Diaw for a forced 3-pointer that didn't hit the rim with 14 seconds left.
Gordon missed a straightaway 3-pointer before Thomas failed to put it away with two misses at the free throw line. Gordon got another look from the right wing, but it bounced out before Thomas hit two straight at the line.