LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Lakers displayed their balance to knock off the Detroit Pistons.
Shaquille O'Neal and Gary Payton each scored 21 points as the Lakers extended their regular-season home winning streak to 19 games with a 94-89 victory over the Pistons.
O'Neal and Payton led the way for the star-studded Lakers, who also received solid games from Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant in establishing their longest winning streak at home since a 24-game run from the 1987-88 to 1988-89 seasons.
"Naturally it's going to gravitate that way," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Those four players (Bryant, O'Neal, Payton and Malone) are going to be how we say 'the cream always rises to the top,' that's kind of where it has to be in scoring."
The Lakers have not lost at home in the regular season since a 117-110 setback to the New York Knicks on February 16. They did lose twice at Staples Center in last season's playoffs, including elimination in embarrassing fashion in Game Six of the Western Conference semifinals against San Antonio.
While the Lakers had all four of their stars score in double figures, Chauncey Billups led the Pistons with 29 points. He received little help as former Laker Elden Campbell finished with 12 points, the only other Piston to reach double figures.
The Lakers used 13-4 run to start the fourth quarter, opening an 80-71 lead with 7:38 remaining on Derek Fisher's jumper. The surge featured five different scorers.
But the Pistons battled back, pulling within 87-83 with 3:08 to go on a jumper by Richard Hamilton, who managed just six points.
With under 30 seconds left, the Pistons trailed by three when Mehmet Okur missed a 3-pointer and Billups misfired on consecutive shots from beyond the arc on the same possession.
"We could not ask for anything else that we got at the end of the game," Billups said. "It was just tough. It was a miscalculation by me. I, for some reason, thought the clock was down a lot farther then what it was and took that bad shot. I think we could definitely have ended it a little different than that."
"I hope they are understand we're getting better," said Pistons coach Larry Brown, whose team fell to 0-3 on a four-game road trip. "We just have to make some better decisions. That's all. You hope you learn from it."
O'Neal, who came into the contest shooting just 45.8 percent (33-of-72) from the free throw line, sank two foul shots with 20 seconds to go for a 92-87 advantage. O'Neal made 7-of-17 shots from the field and also grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out eight assists.
"We put ourselves in that position, we just have to take care of the ball a bit better," O'Neal said. "Everything else is good."
Malone also added 16 points for the Lakers, who won for the seventh time in nine games.
