AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Rodney Stuckey scored the winning basket with 59 seconds left Thursday and Detroit survived a last-second miss to defeat Denver 101-99.
The Nuggets have lost each of their last 14 trips to Auburn Hills.
Stuckey made a layup to give the Pistons a 101-98 lead and Denver's Carmelo Anthony hit 1-of-2 free throw attempts with 53 seconds remaining.
Neither team could score the rest of the way, but Chauncey Billups had a chance to force overtime when he headed for the basket just before the buzzer sounded. His contested layup attempt, however, bounced away to leave Detroit with its fourth straight win.
Charlie Villanueva led Detroit with 27 points and Stuckey had 25.
Anthony paced the Nuggets with 40, hitting 16-of-28 shots from the field. Denver finished a four-game road trip with a 2-2 record.
