Sexton and George lead Jazz past Pistons

DETROIT (AP) — Collin Sexton scored 30 points, Lauri Markkanen had 27 points and 14 rebounds and the Utah Jazz beat the Detroit Pistons 126-119 on Thursday night for for their second victory in 10 games.

Keyonte George added 28 points for Utah. The Jazz built a 29-point lead in the first quarter and overcame 27 turnovers to improve to 6-20.

Cade Cunningham had 33 points for Detroit before fouling out in the final minute. Malik Beasley added 23.

Utah led by 15 with 3:54 left, but had five turnovers to help the Pistons pull to 114-109 with 1:45 left. John Collins and George hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 120-109 with 51 seconds to go.

Takeaways

Jazz: George returned after after turning his ankle and leaving in the third quarter. ... Utah had lost its previous three games by an average of 29.7 points, allowing 139.7 points per game.

Pistons: Paul Reed, who was waived last weekend before being re-signed Monday, had 12 points and a season-high nine rebounds.

Key moment

The Pistons were down 93-81 with 1:36 left in the third quarter when a fracas broke out during a deadball situation. Utah's Jordan Clarkson and Reed were given technical fouls for bumping each other, and Clarkson and Ron Holland II were ejected for squaring up to each other.

Key stat

The Jazz scored 42 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. Sexton and George combined for 22 points on 7-for-8 shooting — going 6-for-6 from the 3-point line — as Utah took a 27-point lead. It was 48-19 at the end of the quarter.

Up next

Both teams will be back in action Saturday night. Utah will play at Brooklyn, and Detroit will be in Phoenix.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba