Tom McEachin of the Standard-Examiner reports:The Detroit Pistons aren"t about to judge their wins for aesthetic value, they just keep piling them up.

Tuesday"s 94-87 victory over the Jazz at the Delta Center was as ugly as they come, but it helped the first-place Pistons open a three-game lead in the NBA"s Central Division.

""This is what we"re supposed to do," Detroit coach Rick Carlisle said. ""We"re supposed to go out and play well and give ourselves a chance to win.

""Our confidence level is high. We want to keep getting better."

It was a game where the Pistons started out like they didn"t care much about winning, but the Jazz eventually force them to take it.

With the Utah holding a 26-25 lead early in the second quarter, the Jazz clamped the lid on Detroit over the next 7 1/2 minutes, opening a 41-28 lead.

The Pistons were 1-for-10 in that stretch with six turnovers as the Jazz outscored them 15-3.

""We had a chance to put them away a little bit and we never could get on the same page as far as what we were trying to do offensively," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said.