Los Angeles  - Bruce Bowen helped the San Antonio Spurs turn a bad day into a good night.

Bowen made two crucial free throws with 9.7 seconds remaining, and the short-handed Spurs edged the struggling Detroit Pistons 83-79 on Thursday night.

Hours earlier, the Spurs learned Argentine ace Manu Ginobili and his 16-points per game average will be sidelined for 2-3 weeks with a stress reaction of his distal right fibula (above the ankle) following X-rays and a CAT scan.

"It's a stress reaction, not a stress fracture, which is important," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said before the game. "If it had been a stress fracture, there's no way he could have been playing, and certainly not as well as he has been.

"The new bone is already starting to lay down, which means the healing process is underway."

Despite losing the league's top sixth man, Bowen viewed it as an opportunity for his teammates to step up.

"Sometimes we don't get those opportunities when everybody is at full kilter," he said. "It will important for the guys to understand that we have an opportunity to contribute like we did tonight."

"French Flash" Tony Parker had 19 points with 11 assists, fellow-All-Star Tim Duncan added 18 points with 18 rebounds for San Antonio (36-17) which improved to 4-3 on its grueling eight-game road trip.

"Tonight was definitely a defensive game, but we will take it because we needed the win," Parker said. "This one was good for our confidence and now we are going to try and finish on a good note in Washington."

Allen Iverson had a game-high 31 points for Detroit (27-25) which dropped its fifth in a row.

"The last couple of games, we talked about the effort, but it was there tonight," Iverson said. "Everybody came out focused and ready to go, and left everything they had out there on the floor. We just didn't get it done."

The Pistons trailed by six, but Rasheed Wallace nailed a three-pointer before Iverson followed with a jumper and scoop layup with 1:21 left, giving the hosts a 79-78 lead with 1:26 to go.

The Spurs regained the lead on two free throws from Parker. Wallace missed the go-ahead a fadeaway over Duncan from the right baseline. Bowen grabbed the rebound and was fouled before he called a timeout.

Despite shooting 47 per cent from the free throw line, Bowen made both foul shots, making it 82-79. Iverson's potential game-tying three banged off the rim. Duncan grabbed the rebound, and made one of two free throws with five ticks left to seal the win.

"Sometimes you don't do things so well, but you continue to work at it," Bowen said of his poor free throw accuracy. "That's why it's so important you continue to put that work in. It just so happened I stepped up and made the shots tonight."

Elsewhere: Utah Jazz 90, Boston Celtics 85

Deron Williams had 18 points 10 assists and a crucial jumper with 20 seconds left, as the Jazz took advantage of the second-half loss to Kevin Garnett to snap the Celtics' nine-game road winning streak.

The victory gave the Jazz wins over the league-best LA Lakers and defending NBA Champion Celtics in its last two games.

"It's two confidence builders," Williams said. "We look at these games and think if we can beat the best two teams in basketball we can beat anybody."

Playing for the first time since the All-Star break, the Celtics lost Garnett to a strained right knee late in the second quarter, when he went up high to convert an alley-oop pass, but came down awkwardly.

The former league MVP tested the knee at halftime, but Celtics coach Doc Rivers shut him down for the rest of the game.

"We got a long season and I'm not taking a risk putting him on the floor," Rivers said. "I'd rather have him healthy for the playoffs, and unless they tell me he's close to 100 per cent, I'm not going to play him."

Mehmet Okur had 19 points, and Ronnie Brewer chipped in with 16 for Utah (32-23) which outscored its guests 30-19 in the final frame.

Paul Pierce led Boston (44-12) with 20 points while Rajon Rondo added 15.

With the score knotted at 83-83, the Jazz took control. Matt Harpring hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:01 left, and pulled the rebound out of Ray Allen's hands a the other end after the All-Star guard missed the game-tying layup.

Williams then faked Allen before draining his jumper from the free throw line, making it 87-83.

After Pierce made an easy layup out of a timeout, Utah's Andrei Kirilenko hit the first of two free throws, but missed the second. Brewer came up with the loose ball and made both of his to wrap up the victory. (dpa)