The Detroit Pistons had every reason to be tuckered out.
     They were the ones playing their fifth game in seven nights, and their second in a back-to-back road set.

Yet it was the Jazz, following a full day off, who looked old, which they are in large part, and tired, which they shouldn't have been, as the NBA's Central Division-leading Pistons rolled to a 94-87 win Tuesday night at the Delta Center.
     "They had us right where they wanted us, pretty much, after the start of the second half. We just couldn't have any energy to be able to run the floor," said coach Jerry Sloan, whose 36-31 club's two-game winning streak came to an unceremonious halt on an evening of ceremony and milestone for the Jazz.
     Prior to the game, Utah's first in a three-game homestand, NBA all-time assists leader John Stockton was presented with a crystal bowl in recognition of his 15,000th career assist, dished late in a loss at Memphis during the Jazz's just-completed road trip.
     Appropriately, the 39-year-old Stockton passed . . . the gift back to a team official before going to work on a 20-point, five-assist night.
     Near the end of the first quarter, which the Jazz led 26-21, Karl Malone was recognized for moving past Elvin Hayes (50,000) and into second place behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (57,446) on the NBA's career minutes-played list.
     Malone, who wound up with a game-high 22 points and team-high 11 rebounds for his 25th double-double of the season, played 41 minutes in all, pushing his 17-season total to 50,033.