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MAGIC MAULING
It took the Pistons about 3 ½ games to figure out the Philadelphia 76ers. It appeared to take them only a half to dissect Orlando. Up just a point at halftime despite taking away Orlando’s most potent weapons, the Pistons dominated from the 10-minute mark of the third quarter on. Falling behind Orlando 46-45, the Pistons went on a 17-3 run to grab a 15-point lead, employing a zone defense for much of that stretch. The Magic cut it to seven going into the fourth quarter, but a strange lineup combination led by Jason Maxiell’s scoring punch soon blew it back to a 20-point advantage and a comfortable win to open the second round of the playoffs in style. It turned out like so many regular-season wins – the starters yukking it up on the bench while the Zoo Crew played out the string.
FLIP SAUNDERS: “We play a zone with a lot of man principles. We were very aggressive in it – contested a lot of shots, didn’t give up as much penetration. Also, the crowd got into the game. From a concentration standpoint, especially that second half, we had great concentration, great communication between players. Even the players on the bench helping the guys out on the zone, telling where the cutters were coming.”
RIP HAMILTON: “In the third quarter, the zone was real big. We kind of matched up, tried to take away their 3-point shots and there was a guy always on Dwight (Howard). We just tried to help each other out and stay on a string.”
First – The Pistons made 7 of their first 9 shots, Hamilton going 4 of 5 and Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups hitting 3-pointers. Maxiell not only started, he drew the challenge of checking Howard, blocking one of his first shots. Antonio McDyess came on for Maxiell at 6:29 with the Pistons ahead 16-10. Rashard Lewis scored eight of Orlando’s first 16 points. The Pistons led by six three times, but Orlando came back to tie at 22 on a Howard dunk and a Hedo Turkoglu driving layup. Tayshaun Prince had five rebounds in the quarter, Billups five assists. Score: PISTONS 22, Orlando 22.
Second – Both teams struggled to score early in the quarter with Billups on Detroit’s bench and Howard on Orlando’s. Billups pressed his advantage over Jameer Nelson to carry the Pistons offensively while Hamilton and Wallace rested. The Pistons’ lead stayed steady at four to six points for a long stretch until Keith Bogans hit a triple with just under two minutes left to make it 41-38. On the next possession, Dick Bavetta called a double foul on Howard and McDyess and then Monty McCutchen whistled Wallace and Turkoglu with double technicals – Wallace’s fourth of the postseason. McDyess picked up his third foul with 1:06 to go, replaced by Theo Ratliff. A Turkoglu basket on Orlando’s last possession cut it to one at halftime. Score: PISTONS 43, Orlando 42.
Third – Orlando took its first lead on an end-to-end dunk by Turkoglu when the Pistons came out and misfired on their first four offensive possessions – two misses from Hamilton, one from Billups and a Billups turnover. Saunders called timeout with 10:23 to go. Prince and Hamilton both got baskets via Howard goaltending calls. A 12-2 run – with points coming from Prince, Billups, Hamilton, McDyess and Wallace – gave the Pistons their biggest lead at 57-48 midway through the quarter. That’s when the Pistons began using their zone. The lead grew to 15 when Wallace hit a triple and Hamilton got a transition layup off a Turkoglu missed triple. Orlando chopped eight points off the lead before the quarter was out with Turkoglu scoring on a drive and a tip-in, but missing 2 of 3 free throws as the Pistons managed only one Billups free throw on their final six possessions. Score: PISTONS 65, Orlando 58.
Fourth - Maxiell gave the Pistons a huge boost to start the quarter, scoring eight quick points as the Pistons restored the lead to 15 in little more than three minutes. Rodney Stuckey also helped with two big plays – he stuck a jumper after a Ratliff offensive rebound to open scoring and took a charge from Turkoglu. Ratliff had several nice moments, including three offensive rebounds, scoring off of one. The Pistons went with a lineup of Hamilton, Stuckey, Ratliff, Maxiell and Walter Herrmann. Billups and Wallace didn’t play at all in the quarter and Prince played just the first three minutes. Score: PISTONS 91, Orlando 72.
The story of the game in Pistons red, white and blue
– Jason Maxiell – go-to guy. After Orlando had sliced its 15-point deficit to seven to start the fourth quarter, it didn’t appear Saunders could afford to leave Billups and Hamilton on the bench for long. But Maxiell put the offense on his shoulders, scoring 10 of Detroit’s 15 points as the Pistons quickly stretched the lead to 18 at 80-62. Maxiell scored in a variety of ways – though none on dunks. He hit three jump shots, scored over Marcin Gortat in the lane and knocked down two free throws. Maxiell also led the Pistons in rebounds and blocked shots with nine and three and – oh, yeah – spent a good chunk of his night checking Howard, who managed just 12 points and eight rebounds and was called for goaltending four times.
MAXIELL: “I try to bring the energy every night – it’s my job. I try to go down low and be dirty, be rough and get physical.”
HAMILTON: “Max was awesome tonight. His energy was awesome from the start of the game. He was in every little confrontation out three, he made big plays, made big shots in the fourth quarter and he was just aggressive. That’s what we’re going to need from him.”
Blue Collar – Prince has his hands full again this series, which he’ll spend guarding Turkoglu almost exclusively. Yet Prince managed to contribute a little of everything in the Game 1 win, scoring 12 points, grabbing eight rebounds, dishing out five assists and blocking a shot. He scored six of his points early in the third quarter, four of them when the Pistons went on an 8-0 run to take the lead for good at the start of their dominant 19-3 stretch.
Red Flag – Orlando’s staples are 3-point shooting and Dwight Howard. Howard had three 20-20 games in the five-game series win over Toronto and the Magic attempted 29.8 triples per game. In their Game 1 loss, Howard was held to a pedestrian 12 points and eight rebounds – he had three blocked shots, but four goaltending calls – and Orlando was a paltry 2 of 15 from the 3-point arc. In addition, Howard bruised his thumb late in the third quarter and sat out a few minutes that turned disastrous for the Magic when his replacement, Gortat, allowed Ratliff to grab an offensive rebound, saw Maxiell score over him in the post, and missed a shot at the rim.
SAUNDERS: “We’ve always tried to change things up on how you guard (Howard). He got off to a great start – five rebounds and six points in the first quarter. You’re not going to stop him. Tonight’s game is not going to happen very often. The big thing is we tried to send a lot of bodies at him. I took Maxy out five minutes into the game and some of the guys on the bench were saying, ‘Why take him out?’ I said because I want to keep somebody fresh on him.”
Pivotal plays, frozen moments and lasting images from a rousing series opener
MIS-MAX – Maxiell might not even quite stretch out to the 6-foot-7 at which he’s listed, while Howard looks bigger than his listed 6-foot-11 and 265. So it seemed an unlikely defensive pairing for Maxiell, starting for McDyess. But Maxiell more than held his own – matching Howard’s 12 points and outrebounding him 9-8, tremendous production considering Maxiell played less than 25 minutes. The Pistons also got good production from McDyess, who chipped in with 10 points and five boards in 23 minutes. Maxiell added three blocks and McDyess two.
SAUNDERS: “Whoever (Howard is) guarding has got to be able to make shots, as Maxy made jump shots, or you’re going to have to get offensive rebounds. Dice had eight in the first half, made shots, did a good job. Maxy did the same in the second half. We got great production out of that spot when you look at what Theo did, too.”
ON POINT – Billups has dominated his matchup with Jameer Nelson in the past and did so again, finishing with 19 points, seven assists and just one turnover in 33 minutes. Billups accumulated five of his seven assists in the first quarter, but became assertive in the second quarter when Wallace and Hamilton were on the bench, racking up seven of Detroit’s nine points in one stretch, scoring over Nelson in the post, on a three-point play when he pulled up to shoot over him, and drawing a foul on a similar move on the next possession.
BILLUPS: “That team is a good, physical team. They play really hard. I think every game will be like that. It’s going to be a physical series and that’s the kind of series we want to play, anyway.”
ROSTER TINKERING – Walter Herrmann was in, Lindsey Hunter out. Saunders decided he needed Herrmann’s size and defensive versatility to help out on both of Orlando’s 6-foot-10 forwards, Lewis and Turkoglu. With Arron Afflalo solidly entrenched as the fourth guard – and a nice defensive matchup for Keith Bogans and Mo Evans who can also check point guards Jameer Nelson and Keyon Dooling – a fifth guard was a luxury the Pistons could afford to pass on. Herrmann entered the game with 8:43 left in the fourth quarter and picked up a foul three seconds later. He finished with one point.
SAUNDERS: “Walter has always been one of our better perimeter guys to put some pressure on people. We just think he might be a guy we’ll be able to use. We’re going to try it early in the series.”
A little perspective on the Game 1 win
The Pistons have to expect more from Howard and a more typical shooting night from Orlando in Game 2. But it was good to get the first punch in this time, unlike the first-round series with Philadelphia. The game was following a similar path to that Game 1 when the Pistons stretched the lead to 15 late in the third quarter – just as they did against the 76ers – only to see it cut to seven by the end of the quarter, just as Philadelphia did. But the Pistons got terrific play from an odd lineup to seize control of the game firmly and quickly. Now they need to transfer the momentum to Game 2 and make sure they go to Orlando with a 2-0 lead.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
Orlando’s 3-point shooting percentage – that from the team that finished No. 4 in the NBA in 3-point shooting accuracy during the regular season. It wasn’t just that Orlando didn’t shoot it very well from the arc, it’s also that the Magic didn’t get many attempts. Their 15 3-point tries were half what they averaged in their five games with Toronto in the opening round.
