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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.


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