Mehmet Okur hit a driving layup with 2.3 seconds left, giving the Detroit Pistons a 93-91 exhibition victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night and putting a damper on Carmelo Anthony's return to the Carrier Dome.

Okur took an inbounds pass and drove to the basket, avoiding two block attempts under the basket, one by Anthony, and laying the ball in off the glass.

After a timeout, Anthony inbounded the ball to Rodney White, but he was unable to get a shot off before the buzzer.

Despite the loss, it was a memorable night for Anthony, who was playing his first game on Jim Boeheim Court since he led the Syracuse Orangemen to the NCAA national championship in April. With Boeheim watching from a courtside seat, Anthony scored a game-high 23 points, shooting 7-for-13 from the floor and 9-for-13 from the line in 34 minutes.

Chucky Atkins led the Pistons with 19 points, Tayshaun Prince had 15, Chauncey Billips had 14, Okur had 12, and Zeljko Rebraca 11.

Nene had 18 points and White finished with 17 for Denver.

Anthony, who entered the game averaging a team-high 18.3 points, had 19 points in the first half as Denver gained a 54-42 lead at the break.

A running dunk by Chris Anderson gave the Nuggets their biggest lead, 59-46, with 9:03 left in the third quarter before Billips and Atkins led the Pistons back.

Billips hit two 3-pointers and Atkins contributed seven straight points to key a 24-3 run. A dunk by Ben Wallace with 2:08 left in the third ended the spurt and put Detroit up 71-64.

Anthony, who sat on the bench for most of the second half, returned with 3:31 left as the crowd of 20,315 chanted his name. He hit a driving layup with 59 seconds left to tie it at 89, but that was it.

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