Clock or Not, the Detroit Pistons Up 2-0

There will be talk, talk for the rest of The Pistons–Magic series about the shot clock malfunction that allowed a three pointer to count at the end of the third quarter that shouldn’t have. Chauncey Billups knocked down a 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left in the third, the clock clearly stopped mid play and the officials weren’t able to look at the replay due to the rules. The refs were put in a tough situation and made what they thought was the right decision. The TNT broadcast however put a stopwatch to the play and it was indeed a couple of fractions of a second late.

It happens all the time, whether it’s a questionable foul call or an instance like this, but the fact of the matter is that Detroit is now up on The Magic 2 games to none after their 100-93 victory on their home court. 

Chauncey Billups led all scorers with 28 points, going 10-for-10 from the line. In fact Detroit’s final 13 points were scored at the stripe in their battle with Magic.

Detroit and the Magic were in a tight contest from the tip but Detroit started to pull away in the second quarter, clamping down on defense and limiting the Magic to just 12 second-quarter points on strong games from Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince. Detroit led by 10 at the half but quickly lost their edge and their lead when the Magic came out of the half and knocked down 7 consecutive three pointers to grab the lead from the Pistons. The Magic outscored the Pistons 36 – to 28 in the third quarter.

The Pistons didn’t exactly limit Dwight Howard, but his 22 points and 18 boards, though impressive, didn’t dominate the game. Detroit once again threw 4 bigs at him giving him different looks all night and forcing him to work hard for every point.

Things changed in the fourth, the Magic stopped hitting their three’s and Detroit clamped down on the defensive end to pull out the win and go up 2-0 heading to Orlando for Game 3 on Wednesday.

Notables:

- 11-for-26 from downtown for Orlando.

- 19 turnovers for The Magic to just 8 for Detroit. You can’t expect to have that many turns against a team like Detroit and win.

- Jameer Nelson put up 22 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

- 5 Pistons and 5 Orlando players in double figures.

- Detroit’s bigs were in foul trouble all game long, but McDyess was the only Piston to foul out of the game.

- Jason Maxiell continues to impress, going 5-for-5 for 11 points, 4 boards and 3 blocked shots.

- Tayshaun Prince continues his playoff roll putting up a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards.

- The Pistons bench outscored the Magic’s bench 13-4.

- Detroit’s biggest lead was 14, Orlando’s 4.

[top image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjo59/]