NBA Game Summary - Orlando at Detroit

Auburn Hills, MI (Basketball News) - Chauncey Billups scored a career-high 37 points and added nine assists to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 108-99 win over Orlando at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

"It was a good one. I was just feeling good," Said Billups. "I was being aggressive, knowing I had a tough match-up with Steve Francis. It was just a good game. They guys were telling me to run the plays that we were running, and I just stayed aggressive."

Richard Hamilton chipped in 25 points for the Pistons, who won their ninth consecutive home game. Tayshaun Prince also reached double figures with 12 while Ben Wallace had 11 points and nine boards for the defending Eastern Conference champs, who had a nine-game winning streak broken on Saturday at Cleveland.

"In all my years, going back to Connecticut, I’ve never had a point guard like Chauncey Billups," Hamilton said. "I’ve never played with one who wanted the ball in his hands in every tough situation and who could make big shots and keep his teammates involved."

Dwight Howard paced the Magic with 22 points and 14 boards. Jameer Nelson had 18 points off the bench, while former Piston Grant Hill had 15 points and Tony Battie had 12 for Orlando, which had a three-game winning streak broken.

"It’s tough but tonight I think we could have got a win," said Howard. "But the next time we play them, we know what we need to do. Detroit, they stepped it up at the end on the defensive side and won the game."

Detroit bounced back from just its fourth loss of the season with a dominant fourth quarter. The Pistons outscored Orlando 29-22 in the stanza to separate themselves in what had been a nip and tuck game.

Billups highlighted a 16-6 burst with 10 points that took Detroit from a 77-76 deficit to a 92-83 advantage with 7:20 left. He capped the spurt with a three-pointer.

"Chauncey has been big all season, and he carried us today," Wallace said. "Every game, if we are struggling, someone seems to step up and carry us until we get going again."

Orlando closed to within six, 96-90, on a pair of Nelson free throws with 3:50 remaining, but the Pistons quickly answered with a Hamilton layup.

The Magic never got closer than seven the rest of the way, as Detroit extended its franchise-best start by improving to a sizzling 25-4.

The two teams battled to a 26-26 stalemate after one quarter.

Detroit took a slim 57-55 edge into intermission. Billups paced the Pistons with 18 while Howard had 11 for the Magic.

Detroit headed into the final stanza with the same, precarious two-point advantage, 79-77.

"These are the dog days, because the season seems like it’s never going to end," said Pistons coach Flip Saunders. "You have to take every game one game at a time. When you’re on a big run and winning games, that’s the biggest challenge you have — can you withstand the pressure night in and night out of what teams throw at you?"