"Chris is their main guy, and we focused on him," Wallace said. "We lost focus on everyone else."

The Hornets didn't play much defense in the first half, allowing the Pistons to shoot 55.6 percent from the floor, but it didn't really matter. New Orleans hit 50 percent of its own shots, outrebounded Detroit 20-15 and only committed one turnover.

That, combined with 14 points from Armstrong, was enough to give the Hornets a 60-49 lead at the intermission.

The Pistons rallied early in the third and pulled within 66-62 on Hamilton's 3-pointer midway through the quarter.

Detroit tied the game on another Hamilton 3-pointer late in the period, but Wallace missed a go-ahead free throw, and Peja Stojakovic answered with a 3-pointer and Paul added a buzzer-beating jumper that gave the Hornets an 81-76 lead.

The Pistons, though, got back-to-back 3-pointers from Wallace and Billups to tie the game at 86 with eight minutes to play. After misses at both ends, Billups hit another from behind the arc to give the Pistons their first lead since they scored the first basket of the game.

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