Detroit shuts down L.A.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The Los Angeles Lakers have been unbeatable at home, and average on the road.

Chauncey Billups had 24 points and eight assists to lead a balanced attack for the Detroit Pistons in a 106-96 win over Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

The Lakers, who are 5-0 at home, lost their third straight on the road to fall to 3-3.

Despite foul trouble, Shaquille O'Neal scored 20 points in 31 minutes. Karl Malone had 20, and Kobe Bryant added 19.

Midway through the first quarter, O'Neal had three fouls, and he was whistled for a fourth with 4:47 left in the half. He left the game with five fouls with 1:16 to go in the third quarter, and stayed on the bench for nearly six minutes. The Lakers were ahead 72-70 when O'Neal left the game, but when he came back they were down 85-80. Detroit then went ahead 91-82 and Los Angeles couldn't get closer than five.

Ben Wallace had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Pistons, and Richard Hamilton scored 14.

HORNETS 88, NETS 85: At East Rutherford, David Wesley hit two late 3-pointers to cap a 20-point performance that led New Orleans to its third straight win. Baron Davis added 25 points, 12 assists, nine rebounds and a clutch three-point play, and George Lynch had a season-high 17 rebounds for the Hornets.

CAVALIERS 103, CLIPPERS 95: At Cleveland, Ricky Davis scored 27 points, Chris Mihm added a career-high 21 and Cleveland held off the Clippers. LeBron James shot poorly from the outside but finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and eight assists as the Cavaliers won their fourth straight home game. Predrag Drobnjak had a season-high 20 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to lead the Clippers, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

HAWKS 101, BUCKS 93: At Milwaukee, Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, leading Atlanta over Milwaukee. Jason Terry had 17 points, Dion Glover added 12 and Stephen Jackson 11 as the Hawks snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Bucks.

TIMBERWOLVES 89, NUGGETS 76: At Minneapolis, Kevin Garnett had 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists Tuesday night to help Minnesota hold off Denver, the Timberwolves' first win over a conference opponent. Minnesota maximized burly Gary Trent in the post. He scored 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Nikoloz Tskitishvili led the Nuggets with 14 points — 12 in the fourth quarter. Trailing 68-46 through three after shooting 23 percent from the floor, Denver finally found its stroke in the final period.

A 14-4 run brought the Nuggets to 78-66, but they got no closer. The Timberwolves, 5-1 against the Eastern Conference, are 1-4 against the West — losing to Utah (twice), Sacramento and Seattle.