Magic-Pistons Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Jan 21 2013 1:49PM

It's no secret the Orlando Magic have struggled defensively during their month-long malaise, but they've been particularly bad against teams with losing records.

Perhaps facing the Detroit Pistons twice in the next six days will get them headed in the right direction.

Orlando will try to avoid an eighth straight loss against a sub-.500 team on Tuesday night at The Palace when they look for a fourth straight win over the Pistons.

Since a 12-game stretch of allowing 98 points or fewer, Orlando (14-26) has given up 108.9 per contest while losing 10 of 12. The Magic have also dropped seven straight to opponents with losing records, allowing 113.0 per game in their last five such contests.

"We'll continue to work," coach Jacque Vaughn said following Sunday's 111-105 home loss to 18-24 Dallas. "That's the best part of it is we've got games ahead of us and we'll continue to work and that's our best approach. We've been there so we know that this team is capable."

The Magic will have a few golden opportunities to end their struggles against sub-.500 teams. After visiting Detroit, they'll return home to face Toronto on Thursday before hosting the Pistons (15-25) again Sunday.

Orlando has already beaten Detroit twice this season, winning 110-106 in Auburn Hills on Nov. 16 and 90-74 five days later - the fewest points allowed by Orlando this season and the fewest scored by the Pistons.

Detroit, winner of eight of 12, is looking to build off Sunday's 103-88 victory over Boston. Playing just three days after losing 102-87 to New York in London, the road-weary Pistons held the Celtics to 17 fourth-quarter points and 39.8 percent shooting overall.

"It was a little frustrating taking a loss over in London," said rookie Andre Drummond, who grabbed seven rebounds and led six Pistons in double figures with 16 points. "We knew we had to bounce back."

Detroit outrebounded Boston 50-42 and has had a plus-7.2 margin on the glass during its 12-game surge. It needs Drummond and center Greg Monroe to keep up that strong work after getting outrebounded by 19 total in the two previous meetings with Orlando.

Drummond is among the league's leaders in rebounds per 48 minutes, and Monroe is averaging 16.4 points and 11.4 boards while recording a career high-tying five consecutive double-doubles.

The Magic have been outrebounded by 4.0 per contest since Glen Davis returned four games ago following an 11-game injury absence (sprained left shoulder).

Davis, though, is coming off his best effort since coming back, scoring 24 points with six rebounds and six assists on Sunday. He's averaged 18.8 points and 13.3 rebounds in his last four games against Detroit.

Nikola Vucevic, the Magic's leader with 11.1 boards per game, has nine double-doubles in the last 10 contests.

Pistons outmuscle Magic in 105-90 win

Posted Jan 22 2013 11:30PM

AUBURN HILS, Mich. (AP) The Detroit Pistons don't get a lot of chances to dominate games with their post presence. When they got an opportunity Tuesday night, they took advantage.

Jason Maxiell, Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe combined for 38 points and 28 rebounds, and the Pistons pulled away to beat the undersized Orlando Magic 105-90 Tuesday night.

"The performance from our bigs was really good," Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. "That was a big part of our game plan tonight."

Brandon Knight led Detroit with 18 points, while Monroe scored 16 and Drummond and Maxiell each had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Pistons ooutrebounded Orlando 54-41, including 16-6 edge in offensive rebounds. The Magic had their size issues magnified when Glen Davis was benched for much of the second half after taking 15 first-half shots and grabbing just three rebounds.

"I knew I had a big matchup tonight against (Davis), and I wanted to set the tone early," Maxiell said. "In a game like this, I'm completely focused on defense. The offense is just going to come on its own."

After missing his first shot of the second half, Davis picked up a technical foul from the bench and ended up with three teammates and an assistant coach surrounding him to prevent an ejection. He only returned briefly when the game was out of hand, and finished with 11 points.

"I played 23 minutes and I took 16 shots that were all good looks," he said. "The second half, I should have stayed aggressive, but I took myself out of the game by getting a tech, and I was not helping the team, so Coach sat me."

J.J. Redick was Orlando's biggest threat, scoring 26 points on 9-for-10 shooting - including 5 for 6 on 3-pointers. Jameer Nelson added 14 points and nine rebounds, but leading scorer Arron Afflalo missed his only four shots.

"I was really excited and enthused about our approach tonight, and I thought we had a great shootaround this morning," Orlando coach Jacque Vaughn said. "We certainly didn't get the results we were after. You have to play at both ends of the floor."

After an even first half, the Pistons got a tiebreaking basket after a strange play to end the second quarter. Detroit had a foul to give, so Will Bynum grabbed Nelson 30 feet from the basket. Nelson, trying to draw a shooting foul, flipped the ball straight up into the air. Both teams froze, expecting a whistle, but when nothing was called, Kyle Singler grabbed the loose ball and Monroe finished the half with an uncontested dunk.

That put the Pistons up 54-52 at the half despite 17 first-half points from Redick. He hit all six of his first-half shots, including three 3-pointers and a four-point play.

"Redick is just a monster out there," Frank said. "He's having the best season of his career, and when he starts shooting like that, there's not a whole lot you can do. We knew that we had to make the difference inside, and that's what our bigs were able to do."

Maxiell had nine points and 11 rebounds in the half for Detroit, who only committed two turnovers in the first two quarters.

"We were shooting 60 percent from the floor and 50 percent on threes, and we were still down two at the half," Vaughn said. "That shows you that it boiled down to the matter of stopping the other team."

Monroe and Drummond combined for 16 points in the third quarter, including back-to-back dunks by Drummond in the last minute of the period, as Detroit built a 82-66 lead. By the fourth quarter, even 6-foot-5 Rodney Stuckey was dunking in traffic against the lethargic Magic defense.

"We know that if we play with a lot of fight and a lot of effort every game, we'll get some great wins," Drummond said. "We weren't trying to do anything fancy. We were just finishing plays."

NOTES: Busta Rhymes provided the six-minute halftime show, but also had a technical glitch. After his first song, he dropped the microphone, which then rolled off the makeshift stage. Luckily, a quick-thinking stagehand was able to retrieve it after a few seconds. ... Nelson had to be escorted off the court by teammates after continuing to argue the no-call at the end of the half.

Notebook: Pistons 105, Magic 90

Dana Gauruder, for NBA.com
Posted Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:21 PM - Updated Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:21 PM

THE FACTS: Brandon Knight had 18 points and Greg Monroe contributed 16 points and six rebounds as the Detroit Pistons notched a 105-90 victory over the Orlando Magic at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Tuesday. The Pistons (16-25) have won nine of their last 13 while the Magic (14-27) has dropped 14 of its last 16, including the last three. Will Bynum had 15 point and Rodney Stuckey added 14 for Detroit, which tied a season-low with eight turnovers. J.J. Redick led Orlando with 26 points and Jameer Nelson added 14.

QUOTABLE: "At the start of the third quarter, we set the tone down low first. Greg got rolling and we passed it out and got open shots. Then (Andre Drummond) came in and set the tone with the 'D', set good screens and rolled to the rim hard and got easy baskets."
-- Pistons forward Jason Maxiell on the play of Monroe and rookie Drummond.

THE STAT: 50. The Pistons have increasingly become a power team with strong rebounding from Monroe, Drummond and Maxiell. Detroit had a 54-41 rebounding advantage over the Magic, the seventh time in 13 games it has reached the 50-rebound mark. Maxiell and Drummond each had 11 while Monroe grabbed six despite sitting out the fourth quarter.

TURNING POINT: Up just two early in the third, the Pistons outscored Orlando 24-10 the rest of the quarter to take an 82-66 lead. Monroe and Drummond were the catalysts. Monroe had a stretch of eight consecutive points and Drummond scored the last six points of the quarter on a layup and two dunks.

QUOTABLE II: "That's part of the identity of our team. There's not a lot of games where guys are scoring 20 or 30. Individually, we get a wide variety of points from different players."
-- Pistons guard Kyle Singler on Detroit's balanced scoring. It had six players in double figures for the second straight game without any reaching 20 points.

HOT: Monroe has been a model of consistency this month. He was averaging 16.9 points and 11 rebounds in January and overcame a slow start Tuesday with his strong third quarter performance. He also played solid defense on the Magic's Nikola Vucevic, who was averaging 14.4 points and 13.3 rebounds. Vucevic had 10 points and nine rebounds.

NOT: Orlando forward Glen Davis was outplayed by Maxiell, shooting 4-for-16 from the field while scoring 11 points in 23 minutes. He was also limited to three rebounds and picked up a third-quarter technical.

ROOKIE WATCH: Drummond came into the game tied for sixth place on the league's dunk list with Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala and added two more for 66 on the season. Singler had six points and seven rebounds. Andrew Nicholson had six points in 11 minutes off the bench for Orlando but committed four fouls. Magic forward Maurice Harkless had four points in 14 minutes.

NOTABLE: Orlando's leading scorer entering the game, Aaron Afflalo, was held scoreless against his former team on 38 minutes. He attempted just four shots. ... Magic reserve center Gustavo Ayon was active after missing the last eight games with a right thigh contusion. He had eight points in 10 minutes. ... Detroit's reserves outscored Orlando's bench 48-29. ... Maxiell had his fourth double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. .... The Pistons, ranked last in attendance earlier this season, have moved past New Orleans and Sacramento on that list. They were averaging 13,949 fans entering Tuesday's game. They drew 11,798 on a night when the temperature only reached single digits. ...

UP NEXT: For the Magic, Thursday vs. Toronto, Sunday vs. Detroit, Monday @ Brooklyn. For the Pistons, Wednesday @ Chicago, Friday @ Miami, Sunday @ Orlando.

• Magic: Harrington, Turkoglu
• Pistons: Kravtsov, Middleton

• Magic: Davis
• Pistons: --

• Lead Changes: 11
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, MI
• Officials: #43 Dan Crawford, #27 Dick Bavetta, #75 Eric Dalen
• Attendance: 11798
• Duration: 2:03