AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- Baron Davis' strong finish helped the New Orleans Hornets avoid another last-second disappointment.
Davis drove to the basket for an emphatic dunk with one second remaining as the Hornets rallied for a 81-80 victory over Detroit Pistons.
New Orleans suffered a one-point loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday after rookie David West missed a wide open layup in the final seconds. The Hornets were in a similar situation against the Pistons, trailing by one with six seconds to go.
Davis caught a pass on the right wing and drove past Ben Wallace before throwing down a two-handed dunk over Detroit guard Bob Sura. The Pistons lost after Sura's shot from beyond half court fell far short as time expired.
"A great play drawn up, a play that we practiced, paid attention to in shootaround," Davis said. "I saw Ben Wallace leaning and I knew I had to get to the hole. There was no jumpers being shot, I was missing all night. Once I saw that lane, I was like, 'Somebody's going to have to put me down, but I'm trying to dunk this.'"
Davis was surprised he did not have to try and win the game from the free-throw line.
"I figured they were going to try and put me on my back, but nobody wanted to foul me," he said. "That lane was wide open. My eyes just opened up. When I saw Ben Wallace lunge, I was like, 'Oh, my goodness.'"
The dunk capped a late rally by New Orleans, which trailed, 78-71, with 3:24 remaining. P.J. Brown buried a jumper and Jamaal Magloire had a tip shot before Darrell Armstrong sank two free throws to forge an 80-80 tie with 1:55 to go.
Sura responded with a layup to reclaim the lead for Detroit, which seemed to seal the win when New Orleans guard David Wesley made only 1-of-2 free throws with eight seconds left.
The Hornets were forced to foul Chauncey Billups - the Pistons' leading scorer and a 92 percent free throw shooter - who missed both attempts. Brown grabbed the rebound and New Orleans called timeout, setting up the final play.
"We got exactly what we wanted when I got the ball and they fouled me," Billups said. "It was two free throws, I don't know what to say. It must be Friday the 13th or something. We got exactly what we wanted."
"Shocked," Brown said of Billups' misses. "The first one was a shocker, but number two, I was like, 'wow.' I got the rebound and I said, 'timeout.' I couldn't believe it. Thank goodness for him doing that because we were able to close out this game on that."
Magloire had 20 points and a season-high 15 rebounds and Davis finished with 18 points and seven assists for the Hornets, who have won eight of their last 11 visits to the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Tayshaun Prince scored 13 points, Billups added 12 and Mehmet Okur had 10 and tied a career high with 18 rebounds for the Pistons, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
"We had the game," Detroit coach Larry Brown said. "We missed a couple of free throws and the last play, they execute the heck out of it. We overran it and the kid got it to the rim and they made a great play."
Detroit's Richard Hamilton scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting before suffering a strained neck when he was fouled by Davis making a layup late in the second quarter. He was on the floor for several minutes before getting up to make the free throw but did not play in the second half.
X-rays were negative but it was another tough blow for the Pistons. Elden Campbell was not with the team due to personal reasons and Lindsey Hunter played just nine minutes before hurting his knee and did not return.
