Kevin Garnett had 17 points, 12 rebounds and six assists -- doing most of his damage after receiving six stitches in the chin in the third quarter -- and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Milwaukee Bucks 99-91 Friday night.

Milwaukee led 68-65 going into the fourth and 73-70 when Garnett returned with 9:59 left in the game. Minnesota's star immediately went to work, scoring the Wolves' next eight points to give them an 80-77 lead with 7:22 left.

The Dallas Mavericks set a season high for points, but their work on the defensive end was a major factor in ending the Detroit Pistons' bid to remain the NBA's lone unbeaten team.

Josh Howard scored 26 points, and Dirk Nowitzki had 23 as the Mavericks raced to a 26-point first-quarter lead and handed the Pistons their first loss of the season, 119-82 on Saturday night.

"We concentrated more on the defensive end and rebounding the ball," Howard said after the Mavericks held the Pistons to 41 percent shooting from the field. "We wanted to make sure they got one shot and that was it."

Elden Campbell is living in the Los Angeles area. Although he said he's retired, don't be surprised if a contending team calls him as we head down the playoff drive.

Darvin Ham, too, could fill a role on a contending team. Guys with their playoff experience, and smarts, are invaluable, especially to a younger team making its first playoff run.

The Sacramento Kings were fined $30,000 by the NBA on Monday for showing derogatory images of Detroit on video screens prior to their home opener against the Pistons.

When the Pistons were introduced Nov. 8, the Arco Arena scoreboard flashed pictures of abandoned buildings, burned-out cars, piles of rubble and other negative images of Detroit. The Pistons won the game 102-88.

The Kings apologized that night and owners Joe and Gavin Maloof bought full-page ads that ran in The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, expressing "great respect for Detroit's long and rich tradition as a landmark American city and the incredibly positive impact the Motor City has made over the course of our country's history."

The Detroit Pistons are off to their best start in 17 years, an early season portrait of teamwork, defense and clutch marksmanship.

The Pistons, the NBA's lone remaining unbeaten team, improved to 5-0 with an intense, come-from-behind 111-104 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.

Trailing by 11 late in the third quarter and down eight to start the fourth, the Pistons outscored the Suns 20-6 during the final 6:47.

Detroit made five of its last six shots, finishing with a 9-2 run.

"The defense turned it up, no question," Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. "Offensively, we turned things up. ... It was at both ends. That's why this has been a championship team. It was a fun game to watch. I'm sure the people at TNT got their money's worth."

Although the Sacramento Kings apologized Wednesday for displaying negative images of Detroit during pregame introductions, the NBA began an investigation into the incident that could result in fines.

Before the Pistons beat the Kings, 102-88, Tuesday night at Arco Arena in Sacramento, fans were shown a montage of negative images of Detroit on the scoreboard above center court. They included abandoned buildings, boarded-up houses, burned cars and piles of construction rubble.

Pistons players said they hadn't paid attention to the video display. But when they heard about it, they weren't happy.

"I still have a lot of pride," guard Chauncey Billups said. "That's where I live. That's my home now. I still have a lot of pride in that city. I love that city. I'm always going to defend the city of Detroit."

Pistons coach Flip Saunders said the incident fired up the coaching staff for the game. Wednesday, after hearing from the owners of the Kings, he cooled down a bit.

"Their organization has always been very first-class," Saunders said. "Opening night, sometimes they get really excited about trying to do some things, and some of their people, they just really weren't quite thinking all the way. They overstepped their bounds a little bit."

Kings president John Thomas saw the video for the first time live from his seat.

By halftime, he had pulled the tape for a private screening and began the process of finding out how it happened. By Wednesday afternoon, the Kings had purchased full-page newspaper ads to issue a direct apology to Detroiters.

"The Sacramento Kings sincerely apologize to (Pistons owner) Mr. Bill Davidson, the entire Pistons organization, the fans, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and the people of the great city of Detroit," the ad - which appears in Thursday's Detroit News and is scheduled to run in Friday's Detroit Free Press - reads in part.

Thomas also e-mailed Pistons president Tom Wilson to offer his plea, and Gavin and Joe Maloof - the brothers who own the Kings - called Saunders to offer an apology.

"This isn't the way we do things," Thomas said. "I can tell you that after this grievous error, we have deep, deep regret. We're reviewing all our systems so that this will not happen in the future."

Chauncey Billups knows the anguish his friend and New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury is going through. Marbury, like most of the Knicks players, is chafing and struggling trying to learn Larry Brown's ways and means.

"After Larry took that job, Steph called me six times in two days, and he's still calling me," Billups said. "They are going through some tough times now, but he's still happy they've got a good coach.

"It's just like how I was when LB first came here. You are hearing so much you just want to say, 'What am I supposed to do?' "I just told him, stay the course. Over time he will make y'all a much better team."

When the Detroit Pistons were introduced before Tuesday night's game, the Arco Arena scoreboard flashed images of abandoned buildings, burned-out cars - nearly every outdated, offensive stereotype of their hometown.

Most of the Pistons didn't see the display, but they went out and wrecked the Sacramento Kings' home opener anyway.

Tayshaun Prince scored 25 points while making 10 straight shots, and the Pistons emphatically snapped an eight-game losing streak in Sacramento with a 102-88 victory.

The Kings quickly apologized for the scoreboard montage, and the Detroit players didn't hear about it until they got dressed in their locker room after an impressive victory - their first in Sacramento since Feb. 26, 1996.

"To do something like that, it's embarrassing," said Detroit coach Flip Saunders, who saw the video. "It's not called for. There's no excuse for that. Whoever did that owes us an apology. ... I know the Maloofs pretty well, and they've always been nothing but classy. I'm sure they didn't have anything to do with that."

John Thomas, the president of Maloof Sports and Entertainment, claimed he didn't know who was responsible for the video, but promised immediate discipline.

"It was a terrible mistake," Thomas said. "That's not how we do things. We apologize to the great Detroit organization and to the city of Detroit. ... There's no explanation. It was a mistake, and it won't happen again."

The Pistons played with plenty of motivation even though they didn't see the show. Chauncey Billups had 16 points and eight assists, and Richard Hamilton added 21 points and six rebounds as Detroit (4-0) extended the club's best start since 1996.

"I just heard about it," Billups said. "I wasn't really paying attention. That's cold. Bet they won't do that again."

Richard Hamilton's previous buzzer-beater was in 1998, one of the more famous shots in NCAA tournament history that gave Connecticut a win over Washington and a berth in round of eight.

He made another one on Friday night, a 20-foot jumper as time expired that gave the Detroit Pistons an 82-81 victory over the Boston Celtics.

"The guys did an excellent job," Hamilton said. "Tay [Tayshaun Prince] made a great pass and Ben [Wallace] and Ray [Rasheed Wallace] set great screens."

Prince, who the Celtics elected not to guard on the inbounds pass, found Hamilton just inside the 3-point arc and he got the shot off as time expired.

"We had a few options. With 0.8 seconds [remaining], you've got to get something really quick," said Pistons guard Chauncey Billups, who had 16 points and eight assists. "There's no better guy in the league to get that shot than Rip Hamilton. That's his bread and butter."

Ben Wallace will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, and there's already speculation about what will happen. Chicago and Atlanta are rumored to be interested. But Wallace said with a sneaky smile that he's not worried about that.

"Nope," Wallace said. "Not at all. Not at all. My gig is to go out there and play basketball and not worry about anything else but trying to get my crown back. That's all that's on my mind."

He also said he sees himself as a Piston for life.

"You know the answer to that," Wallace said. "I think I came here and played the best basketball of my career here. This team and this organization opened their arms up to me, and they let me come in when only a select few other teams around the league were willing to do that. And you know they stepped up to the plate. So there's no question where my heart is at."