Even without Karl Malone, the Utah Jazz managed to beat the Pistons for the third straight time Friday night before a sellout crowd at the Palace.
  Malone missed just the eighth game of his career (fourth due to health reasons) with flu-like symptoms, but the Jazz managed to win 100-97 thanks to rookies Andrei Kirilenko and Jarron Collins and veteran John Stockton.
  After trailing by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, the Pistons came back to take a six-point lead in the fourth quarter.
  The Jazz had a 91-90 lead with 3:21 remaining, but Damon Jones made two free throws and Jon Barry scored five straight points as Detroit led 96-90 with 1:58 to go.
  Then it was Stockton time.
  He got the ball to a wide-open John Starks, who made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 96-93, then made a three of his own with 1:19 left to tie the game.
  "I've played against him time and time and time again," Cliff Robinson said. "I knew that shot was coming before he took it. That's just a play that he makes all the time."
  Then Stockton gave the Jazz a 98-96 lead when he hit a running jumper with 40 seconds to play.
  Ben Wallace made one of two free throws, followed by Donyell Marshall hitting one of two from the line.
  The Pistons had a chance when Stockton missed one free throw, but Jerry Stackhouse's last-second three-point attempt failed when Kirilenko got a block.
  "It should have been our game," said Stackhouse, who led the team with 24 points. "It's disappointing because we fought, we hung in there, got back, got a little cushion and then just allowed them to make two easy plays to get back in the game. At the end we just tried to have desperation to give ourselves a chance to get to overtime and it didn't happen."