AUBURN HILLS, Mich. _ Kentavious Caldwell-Pope showed why he was drew much interest at the NBA trade deadline.
Mere hours after Detroit Pistons president of basketball operations and coach Stan Van Gundy decided to stand pat at Thursday's deadline, the young shooting guard put the Pistons on his back in a thrilling 114-108 victory over the Charlotte Hornets at the Palace.
His 3-pointer with 18.2 seconds left in regulation forced overtime and capped his run of 11 straight points.
And his 3-pointer with 55.1 seconds left gave the Pistons (28-30) a 110-102 and set off a wild scene at the Palace.
Caldwell-Pope finished with 33 points and was 7-for-15 from 3-point range, as the Pistons overcame an 18-point deficit.
It looked for a while like Van Gundy was wishing for a trade deadline do-over when he was forced to sit point guard Reggie Jackson and center Andre Drummond for the entire fourth quarter.
But Caldwell-Pope, Ish Smith, Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris late saved the day, as the Pistons have now won seven of 10 in the month of March.
It looked like the Hornets (24-33) would have enough when Kemba Walker scored the Hornets' last nine points of regulation with his 20-footer giving the Hornets a 100-97 lead with 20 seconds left.
But Caldwell-Pope answered and Marco Belinelli's 3-pointer was off at the buzzer.
Morris scored seven points of his 16 points in overtime. Harris finished with 25 points, and Smith finished with five points, 16 assists and six rebounds.
Jackson struggled with four points and four assists. Drummond finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Walker led the Hornets with 34 points. The Pistons held the Hornets to 23 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.
The Pistons were sluggish from the outset.
Walker fueled the Hornets to an early 19-10 lead behind five quick points.
But the Pistons answered with a 9-0 run, which was capped when Jackson backed down Walker for a free-throw line push shot.
Detroit shot 39.1 percent in falling behind, 28-23, going into second quarter.
The Hornets pushed the lead to nine again at 38-29 before the Pistons answered with a 12-0 run.
Harris' 3-point lead gave the Pistons a 41-38 lead at the 6:58 mark of the second quarter.
But the Hornets closes the half on a 24-9 run to take a 62-50 lead into halftime. The game completely flipped when Van Gundy went back to Jackson in place of Smith.
Walker torched the Pistons for 17 points in the first half, with seven free throws fueling much of his output.
The Pistons stumbled out of the gate in the second half and fell behind by 18 late in the third quarter.
