<div align="center"><font size=""3""><font color=""Red"">Detroit Pistons 87</font> , <font color=""Blue"">Orlando Magic 83</font></font></div> <u><div align="center"><font size=""3"">Top Performers:</font></u></div> [div=50%] <div align="center"> <font size="1"><u>Dwight Howard</u> 7/13, 25 Points, 10 Rebounds, 0 Assists 1 Blocks, 3 Steals</font></div> [/div] <div align="center"> <font size="1"><u>Chauncey Billups</u> 11/16, 31 Points, 6 Rebounds, 3 Assists 0 Blocks, 0 Steals</font> </div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Chauncey Billups scored a season-high 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting, leading the Detroit Pistons to an 87-83 victory over the Orlando Magic on Friday night in a matchup of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Richard Hamilton hit baseline jumpers on consecutive possessions in the last 1 1/2 minutes to give Detroit an 86-82 lead. The Magic made four costly fourth-quarter turnovers for six Detroit points to let the game slip away late. It was the Pistons' second impressive road win in two nights following a 92-82 victory at Dallas on Thursday night. Orlando has lost two in a row. The Magic maintained a slim fourth-quarter lead most of the way despite missing nine of their first 11 shots in the period. Flip Murray put Detroit up 82-80, its first lead since 8:01 in the third quarter, on a 12-foot turnaround jumper with about 2:30 left. Dwight Howard, celebrating his 21st birthday, had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Orlando. Grant Hill had 12 points and four assists and Trevor Ariza scored 10 points. Hamilton finished with 14 points and a season-high 10 rebounds, Rasheed Wallace had 13 points and six assists and Murray had 13 points. Billups scored 16 of Detroit's 26 third-quarter points, hitting 5-of-6 from the floor. The last bucket was an 18-foot jumper with 0.6 seconds left in the period. Both teams struggled from the free throw line, hitting just 65 percent. Howard, ordinarily one of the Magic's shooters from the line, went 11-of-13. Leading by three points at the end of the first quarter, the Magic expanded their lead to eight while resting all of their starters in the second quarter. But Murray led the Pistons back with six points on a 10-2 run over 3:09 that tied it at 33. Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu was carried off the court in the first quarter after spraining his right ankle. Turkoglu appeared to step on Tayshaun Prince's foot going for a rebound with 1 1/2 minutes left in the period. Ariza played heavily in his absence and hit 4-of-5 from the field, but missed five of his seven free throws. <u>Notes:</u> Pistons G Lindsey Hunter (sprained left ankle) missed his second straight game. ... Detroit, averaging a league-low 12 turnovers, had nine in the first half, but finished with 13 to Orlando's 14. ... The Pistons made 6-of-12 from 3-point range, compared with 3-of-13 for the Magic.</div> <font size=""1"">Courtesy Of Yahoo! Sports</font>
I know it's still early in the season, but this Magic loss puts the Wizards 4 games back from the 1st place in the Southeast.
To win @ Dallas and Orlando back to back was an amazing effort Was very proud fan. After losing to the Cats and Blazers I was not expecting to beat Dallas.
