The Detroit Pistons may not be the best team going around in the league at the moment but they proved to be a tough nut to crack on Tuesday night, something that’s nearly always seen against the Orlando Magics.
For a long time, Detroit has been a thorn in Orlando’s side, eliminating them from the playoffs in 2003, 2007 and 2008. This time around as well, the Dwight Howard led team had a run for their money and had to dig deep within themselves
and pull out a second half surge to overcome the spirited Pistons.
The match started with a barrage of pinpoint perimeter shooting from the Detroit Pistons as they raced to an 18-6 spurt within the first six minutes of the game capped by a Tayshaun Prince Alley-oop layup shot.
The Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy was not impressed prompting him to call a time out and then ripped right through his players. The move seemed to work somewhat as the Magics took a rear guard action and reeled off a 13-2 run bridging
the first and the second quarter to lead by two with 8:45 left till half time.
The match swung back and forth from that point onwards in the period with the Magics sweating hard to catch the Pistons and culminated with a Mickael Pietrus triple pointer three seconds from the buzzer to bring the Magics within
striking distance at 43-45 going into the locker room.
Tayshaun Prince led the Pistons scoring 12 points in the half which saw the Magics being bullied around in the paint, a feat which has been rare to see, ever since Dwight Howard has joined Orlando’s ranks.
The Piston continued to press hard in the third quarter opening a lead many times only to be pegged back by a persistent Orlando fight back and the Magics finally surged ahead 63-61 as Vince Carter nailed in a three pointer nearly
a minute before the buzzer.
The teams went into the final quarter with Orlando holding the advantage at 64-61 but the Pistons maintained their up-tempo game and rallied back with a 9-4 run early to gain a five point advantage with 8:34 left on the clock.
At that point, Brendon Bass made a jumper to spark a turnaround that witnessed the Magics reel off a 14-3 spurt within a span of four minutes, making four three pointers along the way, as the Pistons ran out of steam.
Staring at an eight point deficit, the Pistons never really recovered as Jameer Nelson rounded off a tight match with a fade away jumper shot to give the Magics a 90-79 win.
Rashard Lewis made a huge impact on the match with 20 points while Vince Carter finished with 13 as the Magics handed the Pistons their fourth loss of the last five encounters between the franchises.
Tayshaun Prince chipped in 16 points, 12 of them coming in the first half, and Rodney Stuckey netted 14 but the Pistons couldn’t sustain an Orlando surge down the stretch and lost their 12th game of the season.
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