Lewis leads Magic to big win... Game 3: Magic 111, Pistons 86
The Magic got off to a great start, leading Detroit 20-3 and 24-6 before settling for a 30-16 lead after one, with Jameer Nelson scoring 12 points. The Pistons suffered a key injury when Chauncey Billups had to leave the game with a strained hamstring just four minutes into the game and never returned.
Rashard Lewis scored 12 of his career playoff high 33 points in the second quarter as the Magic were ahead 54-42 at the half, as they shot 55% from the field, compared to just 43% for Detroit.
The Pistons made their run in the third quarter, as they got as close as 71-68 before trailing going into the final quarter 73-69. In the fourth, the Magic exploded offensively to win going away 111-86, outscoring Detroit 38-17 on 15 of 24 shooting, including 5 of 7 from 3 point range, as the Pistons were held to just 4 of 15 shooting. The Magic broke a 9 game playoff losing streak to the Pistons.
Magic leading scorers:
Rashard Lewis 33 points (11 of 15 FGs), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
Dwight Howard 20 points (8 of 13 FGs), 12 rebounds, 6 blocks, 3 steals
Hedo Turkoglu 18 points (7 of 18 FGs), 6 assists
Jameer Nelson 18 points (7 of 14 FGs), 7 rebounds, 4 assists
Bench: Keyon Dooling 10 points (4 of 6 FGs)
Detroit leading scorers:
Rip Hamilton 24 points, 6 rebounds
Tayshaun Prince 22 points, 7 rebounds
Rasheed Wallace 11 points
Bench: Rodney Stuckey 19 points
The statistical breakdown:
FGs... ORL 42 of 78 (53.8%) DET 31 of 77 (40.3%) ORL 95 DET 64
3 PT FGs... ORL 11 of 24 (45.8%) DET 2 of 10 (20%)
FTs... DET 22 of 28 (78.6%) ORL 16 of 23 (69.6%)
REBs... ORL 41 (7 offensive) DET 35 (9 offensive)
AST/TO... ORL 18/11 DET 12/10
BENCH... DET 27 ORL 17
Other game stats and notes:
-The Magic starting frontcourt outscored the Pistons' starting frontcourt 71-33.
-Lewis and Turkoglu combined for 51 points, including 8 of 11 on three pointers, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers (after 12 turnovers in Game 2).
-Lewis's 33 points was also his high in a Magic uniform in addition to a playoff career high.
-In the first and fourth quarters, the Magic outscored the Pistons by a combined 68-33 on 62% shooting.
-Wallace, Maxiell, and McDyess combined for 11 points (none by Maxiell and McDyess) on 4 of 19 shooting and just 10 rebounds after 28 combined points and 15 rebounds in Game 2.
-No Detroit player had more than 3 assists.
The teams get two days off before Game 4 on Saturday in Orlando.
Rashard Lewis scored 12 of his career playoff high 33 points in the second quarter as the Magic were ahead 54-42 at the half, as they shot 55% from the field, compared to just 43% for Detroit.
The Pistons made their run in the third quarter, as they got as close as 71-68 before trailing going into the final quarter 73-69. In the fourth, the Magic exploded offensively to win going away 111-86, outscoring Detroit 38-17 on 15 of 24 shooting, including 5 of 7 from 3 point range, as the Pistons were held to just 4 of 15 shooting. The Magic broke a 9 game playoff losing streak to the Pistons.
Magic leading scorers:
Rashard Lewis 33 points (11 of 15 FGs), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
Dwight Howard 20 points (8 of 13 FGs), 12 rebounds, 6 blocks, 3 steals
Hedo Turkoglu 18 points (7 of 18 FGs), 6 assists
Jameer Nelson 18 points (7 of 14 FGs), 7 rebounds, 4 assists
Bench: Keyon Dooling 10 points (4 of 6 FGs)
Detroit leading scorers:
Rip Hamilton 24 points, 6 rebounds
Tayshaun Prince 22 points, 7 rebounds
Rasheed Wallace 11 points
Bench: Rodney Stuckey 19 points
The statistical breakdown:
FGs... ORL 42 of 78 (53.8%) DET 31 of 77 (40.3%) ORL 95 DET 64
3 PT FGs... ORL 11 of 24 (45.8%) DET 2 of 10 (20%)
FTs... DET 22 of 28 (78.6%) ORL 16 of 23 (69.6%)
REBs... ORL 41 (7 offensive) DET 35 (9 offensive)
AST/TO... ORL 18/11 DET 12/10
BENCH... DET 27 ORL 17
Other game stats and notes:
-The Magic starting frontcourt outscored the Pistons' starting frontcourt 71-33.
-Lewis and Turkoglu combined for 51 points, including 8 of 11 on three pointers, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers (after 12 turnovers in Game 2).
-Lewis's 33 points was also his high in a Magic uniform in addition to a playoff career high.
-In the first and fourth quarters, the Magic outscored the Pistons by a combined 68-33 on 62% shooting.
-Wallace, Maxiell, and McDyess combined for 11 points (none by Maxiell and McDyess) on 4 of 19 shooting and just 10 rebounds after 28 combined points and 15 rebounds in Game 2.
-No Detroit player had more than 3 assists.
The teams get two days off before Game 4 on Saturday in Orlando.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 3:39 AM
4 Comments:
At 8:34 AM,
WeRDevos said…
I was at the game last night. Got the shirt and a noisemaker. It was the loudest O-rena crowd I've heard in over ten years. It kept up throughout the entire first quarter. Tailed off a bit, then got super loud before the start of the fourth when they showed a video themed on the movie 300 featuring great Magic plays against Detroit. The crowd was in a frenzy. Good times.
I haven't looked at any stats yet, but here were my impressions.
Billups injury looked like someone was using his legs as a turkey wishbone. Jameer (I think) was falling away at the same time Billups leg was sliding out. Made it look like Jameer pulled on his leg.
Early on 'Shard kept passing up 3's and driving to the hoop. It looked like he had lost confidence in his shot. Later on he couldn't miss.
Detroit offense fears Howard. There are no wimpy ass layups when he was on the court. For a while in the 2nd period they pulled their big men way outside to get Howard away from the rim. Then posted up Hamilton or Prince against our guards for easy turnaround jumpers. It was very effective until SVG made adjustements during the 3:00 minute tv timeout. Howard was kept back near the rim the rest of the way.
With Howard in the paint Detroit was stuck playing the perimeter. They didn't shoot well enough from outside to stay in the game.
Every time a foul gets called on Rasheed he whines. The crowd was shouting "T him up!" He got benched by his coach every time.
Lot's of 3's. Magic shot well. The arena gets really loud when they square up from the line. And you expect everyone to go in.
I swear the refs think their job is to keep the game close. They were calling touch fouls on Howard and Turk on the defensive end, and allowing Detroit to mug them on offense.
Howard, Turk & Lewis with any combination of guards is clearly advantage Orlando. Take out any one of the three bigs for Bogans or Gortat and it's advantage Detroit.
Game 4 will be tough but the Magic are back on track. If Billups can't recover Magic could sweep them out of the playoffs.
At 3:28 PM,
Big Figure said…
Lets not get to far ahead of ourselves,billups or no billups we still have to prove we can win in detroit,all we're doing now is holding serve and there's one more game to go before we can even say we accomplished that. Great win,i thought all along we would have to play from the front with a ten point lead or so to be able to secure a win against these guys. Playing a tight slow-down pace game favors them. We got out and ran finally and it got us a lead early,everybody's making it seem like billup's inujry is the reason they lost giving us no credit at all,but the truth is we played the game at our tempo and we limited our mistakes from the first two games,plus when billups got hurt we had already gotten out to a big lead. Like i wanted to see SVG put rashard as well as dwight on the low block. Hedo woke up late,keyon,keith and marcin came in and were solid,carlos again was a waste of time. Interesting thoughts live WeR,glad you had a good time and it really seemed like the crowd was into it. On the billups injury play,being in the comfort of my own home watching the instant replay from a few different angles you could clearly see as jameer was falling after trying to back-pedal,billups stepped on his foot and basically got stretched out because jameer was sliding backwards on the floor. The only way it couldve been prevented is if billups wouldnt have stepped on jameers foot,tough break but injuries are a part of the game,we got two guys out we really could use (battie,cook).
At 4:38 PM,
WeRDevos said…
There's not much that is more fun than being part of a crowd that is really into it. The noisemakers were extra loud and everyone had one.
I'm optimistic after last night because:
1. they could have won game 2, so why not win game 5 in Detroit?
2. They are really clicking now. They seem to improve from game to game this year.
3. 'Shard had been driving me crazy because he looked scared to shoot the 3. The sweet stroke was back last night.
4. We have the better coach. SVG has tightened the rotation to only the players he trusts. Saunders is playing combinations of players in the playoffs he hasn't played all year.
5. Howard is the best player on the court. That matters a lot in the NBA. (Unless your coach is Flip Saunders, then it doesn't.)
6. The single worst matchup for the Magic is Billips vs. Nelson. Billips can both post up on Nelson and dominate him defensively. If Billips is out it forces Detroit to use Hamilton or Prince to guard the point which takes Prince away from guarding Turk. All the mismatches favor the Magic. If Billips isn't fit to play full speed the Magic are in great shape.
7. Saunders really has a bad record as playoff coach. He has an amazing habit of losing playoff series 4-2 while being the favorite. Why not do that again?
At 8:52 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Always interesting to get the perspective of someone who was at the game and able to soak up the playoff atmosphere!
The thing that impressed me most about the win was that the Magic kept their poise in the fourth quarter when Detroit had cut the Magic lead to just 4 points at the end of three. The Magic pulled away quickly and turned the game into a rout.
To be honest, I hope Billups is able to play for the Pistons. If he isn't, and the Magic wind up winning the series, we still won't get any respect because people will say, "Oh, the only reason the Magic won was because the Pistons didn't have Billups."
I know it's a tough matchup for the Magic with a healthy Billups, but if the Magic can play like they did in Game 3 (limiting the turnovers, shooting the three pointer well, outrebounding the Pistons), they can beat the Pistons with or without Billups.
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