There were plenty of things to leave a sour taste in their mouths. They lost in the closing seconds. They lost at home for a fifth consecutive time. Their record slipped, again, to a game below .500.

Yet the Hornets were still feeling good about themselves and their direction Friday night as they left the Charlotte Coliseum after a 110-105 loss to the Detroit Pistons, heading now on a six-game, 12-day road trip.

"We came back strong in the last quarter and had a chance to win. That's all I can ask for," Hornets coach Paul Silas said. "I am disappointed that we lost, of course, but we're playing good sound basketball."

It was an opinion shared around the locker room after former North Carolina star Jerry Stackhouse delivered the knockout punch with a three-pointer, with 15 seconds remaining. The shot, launched with the 24-second shot clock running down after Detroit had almost lost the ball on a broken play underneath, gave the Pistons a five-point advantage that sealed the victory.

That allowed the Pistons (10-5) to make up for an eight-point home court loss to Charlotte two nights earlier. The Hornets had dominated that one, running out to a 22-point lead, then holding on down the stretch to win it.

Friday the Pistons shot better, rebounded better and played harder. And they did it from beginning to end, perhaps the biggest of the things the Hornets failed to match. They started well enough, moving ahead by eight, but slipped in the second quarter and trailed by eight at halftime.

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Charlotte Bobcats, Detroit Pistons

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