Auburn Hills, Mich. » It only figures that in a building named The Palace, against a Detroit Pistons team they've lorded over for five seasons now, the Jazz would deliver a quarter Wednesday night that Deron Williams only could describe as "pretty flawless."

So it was that the Jazz demolished the Pistons 35-14 in the second quarter and cruised to a 115-104 victory, leaving them needing just four wins in their final 10 road games to secure a winning record away from home for the first time since the 2000-01 season.

"We're playing a lot better on the road," Williams said. "We just have a lot more energy on the road. That's the biggest thing. It seemed like we've always lacked energy, lacked confidence, and for the most part we don't do that any more."

The Jazz beat the Pistons for the 10th straight time, now having swept the last five seasons series. Williams is undefeated against Detroit (as well as Toronto) since joining the Jazz. Their last loss to Detroit came March 13, 2005 in a 64-62 decision.

By halftime Wednesday, the Jazz already had surpassed their point total that night. They trailed 29-28 at the end of the first quarter, then opened the second with a lineup of Ronnie Price, C.J. Miles, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap and Mehmet Okur.

During the next 12 minutes, the Jazz proceeded to embarrass the Pistons, taking a 63-43 lead into halftime. Price started things by avenging a highlight dunk he was on the receiving end of courtesy of Hakim Warrick in Tuesday's win at Chicago.

After Austin Daye missed a three, Price took off and soared for a two-handed dunk over Daye, who also fouled him. Price couldn't complete the three-point play but the Jazz were still on their way to a 14-0 run to start the quarter.

"Hey, I'll jump again, I don't care," Price said of Warrick's dunk. "But, yeah, it's about time that I'm on the other end. It's about time."

Korver drilled three jumpers and Millsap banked in a 15-foot runner off an inbounds play with three seconds left on the shot clock. That was good for a 42-29 lead, but the Jazz were far from finished and led by double digits the rest of the way.

They passed circles around Detroit, with Price driving and looking outside to Okur for a three-pointer. Okur, though, slid the ball to Miles, who connected from long distance. Korver hit a long jumper of his own after he and Williams traded passes.

"The extra pass is everything right now," Korver said. "We're playing really good basketball. The second quarter, it felt like no one even dribbled. We were just pass-pass-pass-screen-shot, and we were hitting them tonight."

"That's when we're at our best, when the first five comes out and the second five comes in and we get better," Wesley Matthews added. "We have a lot of talent, a lot of depth, on this team and we've got the ability to do that."

In the second game of a back-to-back set, the Jazz found the energy in the first half to sustain them for the night. They won for the 10th time in their last 12 road games, leaving them with a 17-14 road record. Keep in mind, they were 15-26 last season.

"We should have one if we're going to be good enough to be in the playoffs, I think," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of a winning road record. His team couldn't gain ground in the standings, though, with both Dallas and Denver winning Wednesday.

The Jazz enjoyed one of their most balanced scoring nights of the season as Williams, Millsap and Okur all had 18 points, Matthews and Korver scored 14 apiece and Andrei Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer chipped in with 11 each.

In the road trip's first two games, the Jazz scored 247 points in beating the Bulls and Pistons. It was the seventh loss in eight games for Detroit (22-42), with Richard Hamilton, Will Bynum and Ben Gordon combining to shoot 12 of 33.

"I thought we played well," Williams said, "and then I look at the box score and they outscored us in every quarter except for the second and they had almost three 30-point quarters, so our defense still wasn't where we want it to be."

rsiler@sltrib.com