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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| MAGIC | 19 | 24 | 23 | 16 | 82 |
| PISTONS | 24 | 28 | 18 | 18 | 88 |
Recap:
AUBURN HILLS, Mich.(AP) Allen Iverson grinned as he looked at the boxscore after the Detroit Pistons' 88-82 victory over the Orlando Magic on Monday night.
"I'm not used to seeing myself with 15 points and knowing that I had a good game,'' he said. "Before, even if I only had 20 points, I didn't think I was doing my job.''
Iverson was Detroit's fourth-leading scorer on a night when no Pistons player reached 20.
"This is a different feeling, but I like it a lot,'' he said. "I've won four scoring titles and I've scored 23,000 points, so I've done a lot of big things when it comes to scoring the basketball, but now I've got different goals.''
Detroit has now won four in a row, the last two without Richard Hamilton (groin).
"There was a lot of emotion in the building tonight, because they came in playing really well and because we knocked them out last year,'' said Pistons coach Michael Curry. "This is what the NBA should be like.''
The loss ended Orlando's seven-game winning streak.
"I'm actually surprised that we were even in the game, because we only played 18 good minutes - the first 18 of the second half,'' said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. "We didn't compete on the defensive end in the first half, and we didn't finish the game.''
Rodney Stuckey led Detroit with 19 points, while Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace each added 16. Antonio McDyess came off the bench with 11 points and eight rebounds despite a fourth-quarter rib injury.
"Dice was great,'' Curry said. "When we've got him and Sheed on the floor at the same time, it is tough for any team to double anyone, because it means a great shooter is going to have an open shot.''
McDyess was injured in a three-way collision with Stuckey and Courtney Lee.
"It was horrible - when I was laying on the court, I was just trying to get my breath back,'' he said. "It hurt, but I didn't even think about not coming back. I knew they needed me.''
Rashard Lewis led the Magic with 23 points while Dwight Howard added 18 points and 18 rebounds.
"We didn't play well at all tonight - we played their style of ball,'' Lewis said. "They slowed it down and made us play half-court basketball.''
Detroit held Howard to one point in the first half while building a 52-43 lead.
"Rasheed was playing great defense, and we were able to contain Dwight,'' Curry said. "He still had a big game inside, but we didn't give him a lot of dunks.''
Howard got going with a three-point play in the opening minute of the third period, and scored 13 points in the quarter to help Orlando narrow the gap to 70-66 heading into the fourth.
Orlando caught a break early in the final period as Iverson - an 84 percent shooter from the line - missed a pair of free throws that could have put Detroit up by 8.
The Magic rallied and tied the game at 77 on Lewis' four-point play with 6:07 to play, and got more help when Wallace was called for a technical foul with 4:49 left.
But Lewis missed the free throw and Wallace immediately made it 82-77 with a 3-pointer.
"We were able to fight back into the game, but we then turned the ball over and made a lot of mistakes,'' Lewis said. "We were still fighting, but we couldn't make that one play.''
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Preview:
The Magic roll into Detroit with a 24-6 record, slightly behind Boston and Cleveland for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. A seven-game winning streak is on the line when Orlando takes on the Detroit Pistons (17-11) at 7:30 p.m. tonight, as Orlando’s brutal stretch in December against perennial NBA powers continues on the road.
Since their early season trade for Allen Iverson, Detroit has flown under the radar but continued to notch victories under first-year Head Coach Michael Curry. Iverson leads the team in scoring with 18.1 ppg. and is one of five Detroit players averaging in double-figures. Richard Hamilton is on Iverson’s heels for the team scoring lead with a 17.2 ppg. average. The Pistons, known for their defensive prowess, are scoring only .42 ppg. more than they are giving up.
Their offensive cohesiveness doesn’t seem to be clicking yet with Iverson in the lineup, but they are managing to win games with their overall depth and great assist-to-turnover ratio. As a team, the Pistons are nearly 3-to-1 in that category.
With no true center in the regular rotation, Detroit should find it difficult to control Dwight Howard in the paint. He is due for a big game, and this may be the one he breaks out in. The other four positions on the court are great match-ups and shouldn’t favor either team too dramatically. Orlando has a slight advantage at the point guard position, as the emerging Jameer Nelson will take on the young Rodney Stuckey.
Each team matches up very well with the other, so this should be a great game. This is also a big game for both teams in positioning themselves in the Eastern Conference moving forward.
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Keys to the game:
Team Defense: Both teams are fantastic on the defensive end of the court and rank in the top-10 in opponent ppg. (Orlando is sixth, Detroit is ninth). With both teams having scoring threats at every position, team defense and rotations off of double teams will be critical in winning this game.
3-point shooting: Both teams are strong shooters from beyond the arc, but both teams also defend the three as well. Detroit ranks fifth in opponent 3-point shooting percentage and Orlando ranks seventh. The Magic will always take their shots from 3-point range, but they could certainly win or lose simply by their performance from that distance. If Detroit or Orlando can step their defense up on the perimeter, they should have the advantage when time winds out.
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Game Notes:
Dec. 29 @ Detroit: Orlando is 30-42 all-time vs. Detroit (20-16 at home, 10-26 on the road) during regular season action, including 2-2 last season…Orlando is 7-12 vs. Detroit in the playoffs (2-0 at home, 1-0 on the road, 1996 first round; 2-1 at home, 1-3 on the road, 2003 first round; 0-2 at home, 0-2 on the road, 2007 first round; 1-1 at home, 0-3 on the road, 2008 Conference Semifinals)...Orlando has lost 16 of the last 21 regular season meetings with the Pistons overall...The Magic have lost eight of the last 12 match-ups at home and dropped seven of the last eight at Detroit…Assistant GM Dave Twardzik served as an assistant coach for the Pistons in 2000-01…Assistant Coach Brendan Malone served on the Pistons’ bench for seven seasons from 1988-95 and helped them capture back-to-back NBA Championships in 1989 and 1990.
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. PISTONS: 46 pts., Tracy McGrady (@ Orlando, 12-25-02); Shaquille O’Neal (@ Detroit, 2-16-93)
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. MAGIC: 42 pts., Grant Hill (@ Orlando, 1-3-00)
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