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PISTONS TAKE A PUNCH – AND HIT BACK
There was no mystery why the Pistons won Game 1. Jason Maxiell outscored Dwight Howard and Orlando shot 2 of 15 behind the 3-point line. Those are the pillars of Orlando’s 52-win season – Superman and superior 3-point shooting. The Magic got healthy doses of both in Game 2 – 22 points and 18 rebounds from Howard and 33 points from the arc. And still they lost. So did the Magic gain confidence by holding a fourth-quarter lead after falling behind by 14 in the first half? Or do they fly home demoralized after taking their best shot and watching the wobbled Pistons regain their footing in time to take a 2-0 series lead? The Pistons outscored Orlando 18-7 over the final 6:16. After Orlando went 7 of 7 from the 3-point line in a 36-point third quarter, it was classic Detroit defense down the stretch. In that 18-7 run, Orlando had 13 possessions, turned the ball over on three of them and shot 2 of 12. Chauncey Billups scored a game-high 28 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter when Billups was 8 of 8 and the Pistons 13 of 15 at the foul line.
TAYSHAUN PRINCE: “Our defense was just unbelievable down the stretch. As good a first half as we had, you don’t want to let them come out and score 36 points in the third quarter. There will be games you’ll be tested in the playoffs, but you don’t want to be tested that way. But in the fourth quarter, we played great defense.”
ORLANDO COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: “A little frustrating, but I think that our guys fought extremely hard tonight – fought through some adversity, but just a very, very, very tough loss for us tonight.”
First – The Pistons didn’t get off to quite the start offensively as they did in Game 1, but they forced four early Orlando turnovers and got eight quick points from Rasheed Wallace. Wallace caused a scare after his first basket, less than four minutes into the game, when he scored in the lane but came down wincing and limping. Howard got called for a foul trying to block a Wallace baseline turnaround, then got hit with a technical for arguing the call. An 8-0 run between Howard dunks put the Pistons up 10 at 21-11. When Rodney Stuckey came in the game with 2:12 left, he replaced Tayshaun Prince. Orlando scored on seven straight possessions to tie the score at 27 on a Hedo Turkoglu 3-pointer, then tied it again by scoring on an eighth straight possession as the quarter ended. Score: PISTONS 29, Orlando 29.
Second – Ex-Piston Carlos Arroyo and Adonal Foyle, neither of whom played in Game 1, opened the quarter. With Howard out, the Pistons outscored Orlando 9-2 over the first 2:55. The Pistons stretched the lead out to 14 late in the quarter as Saunders leaned on his rookie backcourt of Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo. Both Wallace and Antonio McDyess picked up their third fouls late. Theo Ratliff and Walter Herrmann finished the half. The Pistons went without a point on their final five possessions to let Orlando creep within 10 despite the Magic making a mere two field goals for the quarter, staying reasonably close by getting to the foul line 10 times in the quarter. Score: PISTONS 50, Orlando 40.
Third – Jameer Nelson shot Orlando back into the game early by knocking down two 3-pointers. A Turkoglu drive made it 52-48 and forced a Pistons timeout with 9:43 to go. Two triples from Lewis and one from Turkoglu made the Magic 5 of 5 from the arc in the first six-plus minutes of the half, cutting the lead to one. Nelson made it 6 for 6, giving Orlando the lead at 65-63. Mo Evans made it 7 of 7 as Orlando took a three-point lead despite the Pistons scoring on six of eight possessions. Rip Hamilton started the quarter 1 of 6 and got pulled for Stuckey with three minutes to go. Both Wallace and McDyess picked up their fourth fouls late. Billups hit a disputed triple to close the quarter when the clock malfunctioned and got stuck at 4.8. It was ruled the shot was good with 0.5 left. After scoring 11 in the second quarter, Orlando responded with 36. Score: PISTONS 78, Orlando 76.
Fourth - Orlando’s 3-point streak ended when Bogans missed on the first possession. The Pistons scored on only one of their first eight possessions as Orlando took an 84-80 lead. The streak ended when Wallace connected, but immediately picked up his fifth foul with 6:35 to go and left for McDyess. Hamilton, 3 of 15 at the time, nailed a triple to put the Pistons up 87-86, then McDyess picked up his fifth with 5:01 to go and fouled out with 3:50 left, Wallace returning. Two Billups free throws made it a 7-0 run snapped by two from Howard with 3:50 to go. Nelson fouled out with 1:23 to go two possessions after his in-and-out triple cut a five-point deficit to two. Howard batted in a Lewis miss with 1:03 to go to cut Detroit’s lead to 94-93. Maxiell split a pair at the line after grabbing an offensive rebound with 48.9 left to make it 95-93. Turkoglu took a hurried 3 that missed badly, but the Pistons answered with a bad possession ending in a desperation air ball by Prince. Orlando got the ball back with 17.8 left. Lewis missed a driving layup attempt, the Pistons grabbed the rebound and made 5 of 5 free throws down the stretch to hang on. Score: PISTONS 100, Orlando 93.
The story of the game in Pistons red, white and blue
– With Billups (8 of 19) and Rip Hamilton (4 of 18) struggling mightily for most of the night, the Pistons’ frontcourt shouldered the scoring burden beautifully. Prince (8 of 13), Wallace (7 of 10), Maxiell (5 of 5) and McDyess (2 of 2) combined to shoot 73 percent. Prince and Wallace finished with 17 points apiece, Maxiell with 11 and McDyess six to go with eight rebounds. Prince added 10 boards and five assists while holding Turkoglu to 12 points and three rebounds.
FLIP SAUNDERS: “Our bigs shot the ball well tonight. Tay was 8 of 13, but two of his shots were when Chauncey gave it to him with three on the shot clock and said, go ahead and make a play. … We’ve just got to do a better job of letting those guys go to work when they have the opportunity.”
Blue Collar – Maxiell and McDyess continue to be tremendously active and effective. Maxiell’s numbers again don’t do him justice. He got his hands on loose balls repeatedly and blocked three shots. His cleverness defensively forced at least two Orlando turnovers when he showed a passing lane but quickly covered it up, forcing bad decisions. McDyess had six rebounds in the first half and with the score 48-36, he gave the Pistons two extra possessions, chasing down a Rodney Stuckey miss and then an errant Wallace 3-pointer. That possession ended with Stuckey posting Carlos Arroyo and forcing a foul for two free throws that put the Pistons up 14 with 2:49 left in the first half.
Red Flag – The Pistons withstood Orlando’s third-quarter 3-point barrage, but they could have had a much bigger halftime lead than 10 points if they would have finished the first and second quarters more efficiently. They let a 10-point lead evaporate in the final four minutes of the first quarter and didn’t score on their final five possessions of the second quarter, when they could have padded a 14-point lead and essentially put the game out of reach.
Pivotal plays, frozen moments and lasting images from a gripping postseason win
CLOCK SNAFU – The third quarter ended strangely. Two Lewis free throws with 5.1 seconds left gave Orlando a 76-75 lead, but as Billups raced downcourt, the clock froze at 4.8 seconds left. Billups passed to Stuckey, who went airborne to shoot, but saw there was still time left and passed back to Billups when an Orlando defender flew at him. Billups, unaware of the clock freezing but knowing time was about up, launched a 3-pointer that went in. A lengthy officiating huddle ensued, but only to determine if any time should still be put on the clock. The rule prohibited them from taking the points off the board.
SAUNDERS: “It’s not a reviewable situation. … The decision they made, they really had no choice. … You can get upset, but if you know what the rule is, you’re going to rant and rave as much as you can, but there’s nothing you can really do.”
RIPPLE EFFECT – Maxiell’s expanding offensive game does more than just help his offensive numbers – it also helps his teammates. Early in the second quarter, Prince and Maxiell ran a two-man game on the right side. Howard, guarding Maxiell and forced to honor the jump shot he knocked down effectively in Game 1 and for the first two points of Game 2, stayed a step closer to the perimeter than he otherwise would. That allowed Prince to turn the corner, come down the lane and throw down a dunk that lit up the crowd
ROCK-SOLID ROOKIES – Saunders showed supreme confidence in his rookie guards in the second quarter, keeping Billups and Hamilton on the bench together for nearly nine full minutes. Stuckey came on late in the first quarter for Prince and started the second quarter. Prince came back for Billups early in the second and then Afflalo replaced Hamilton at the 10:17 mark with the Pistons ahead 34-31. When the rookies came out with 1:26 to go, the lead was 50-38. Though both missed good shots – Stuckey was 1 of 4, Afflalo 1 of 3 – their defense was superb and Stuckey managed three assists.
BILLUPS: “It just speaks to how good they are. They’re always focused in the locker room, trying to learn in practice and film sessions. You know when they’re focused like that, when they go into games, veterans are going to have a lot of confidence in them. We’re not over there looking to see what kind of mistakes they’re going to make. We’re looking to see what kind of plays they’re going to make to maintain the lead or increase it.”
A little perspective on the 2-0 lead
No matter how Orlando responds to this game – buoyed by digging out of a 14-point hole and taking the Pistons into the final minute, crushed by getting production from their two core strengths – the cold hard fact of being down 2-0 translates to long odds at getting out of the second round. Then again, the last time the Pistons took a 2-0 series lead by opening with home wins, they lost four straight. So we’ll assume they’ll head to Florida understanding there’s still business to conduct.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
The combined turnovers of Orlando’s starting frontcourt – six apiece for Turkoglu and Lewis, five for Howard, with Turkoglu committing three in the fourth quarter and Lewis two. Orlando committed 19 turnovers to 10 for the Pistons.
