The Magic are coming off what was easily their best performance of the season Wednesday night when they beat the Phoenix Suns 122-100. But, as we know, that is meaningless when the Magic play the Detroit Pistons.
The Magic fell to 6-29 against the Pistons since taking a 3-1 series lead in the first round of their 2003 playoff series.
I’m not sure what it is about this team that get inside Orlando’s heads, but the Magic need to get it fixed.. Magic killers Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups are no longer on the roster, plus starters Tayshuan Prince and Richard Hamilton missed Tuesday’s game due to injury.
Hamilton has an injured ankle while Prince has a bad back. Neither is expected to play today.
Magic Guard Vince Carter is also unlikely to play tonight.
The game starts at 7:00 pm EST and can be seen on Sun Sports. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can hear it locally on WDBO 580 AM and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030.
The Line: Magic – 14
Starters
Orlando
Dwight Howard
Ryan Anderson
Matt Barnes
J.J. Redick
Jameer Nelson
Detroit
Ben Wallace
Charlie Villanueva
Jonas Jerebko
Ben Gordon
Rodney Stuckey
I’m not sure if Pietrus will be re-inserted into the starting lineup or not, but this is the lineup that Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy started on Wednesday night against Phoenix. This is also the same starting lineup Detroit used on Tuesday night against the Magic and Wednesday night against the Raptors.
Last Meeting: Detroit dictated the tempo of the game in route to an 85-80 victory over the Magic. The Magic shot just 36.7% from the field and 28.6% from beyond the three-point line. Ryan Anderson had an awful game, going 1-of-11 from downtown. Both Centers, Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat, fouled out. Howard played just 17 minutes. Vince Carter led the Magic with 15 points. Detroit’s thee guards, Rodney Stuckey, Ben Gordon, and Will Bynum scored a combined 63 points. The Pistons made 31-of-38 free throws while the Magic were just 12-of-16 from the line. See a complete recap from Tuesday night’s game here.
Season Series: The Pistons lead the season series 1-0. Detroit swept the season series during the 2008-09 season, 3-0.
About the Magic: The Magic are coming off a great bounce-back game. After losing to Detroit on Tuesday night, the Magic put together their best effort of the season on Wednesday night, defeating the Phoenix Suns, who entered the game with a perfect 4-0 record, 122-100. The Magic shot 52% from the field and 52% from beyond the arc. The Magic played much better defensively, holding the Suns to 100 points, 14 below their season average. They also allowed the Suns to shoot just 45.5% from the field. They came in shooting 51.4% for the season.
Ryan Anderson followed up a 2-of-14 shooting night on Tuesday by scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He was one of three Magic players with a double-double. Matt Barnes had 13 points and 11 rebounds while Jameer Nelson out-played two-time league MVP Steve Nash, scoring 16 points and dishing out 10 assists. Nelson needs to keep up his level of play from Wednesday night if the Magic hope to end their skid vs. the Pistons.
Dwight Howard was frustrated all night Tuesday in Detroit and played just 17 minutes. His frustration continued in the first half Wednesday night before he exploded in the third quarter, finishing with 25 points and 6 rebounds. The Magic will need the Dwight from Wednesday’s third quarter tonight.
About the Pistons: Detroit followed up their big win against the Magic by losing the very next night. The Pistons ended the first quarter with a 4-point lead, but were dominated in the second quarter. The Raptors out-scored Detroit by 16 and took a 68-56 lead into the half. The Pistons came back, taking a 91-90 fourth quarter lead before the Raptors ended the game on a 20-8 run, winning 110-99.
Toronto shot 47 free throws just one day after allowing Orlando to attempt just 16. Ben Gordon scored a season-high 30 points for Detroit in the loss.
Detroit is still a very good defensive team and is giving up just 90.2 points per game this season, but the Pistons are still looking to find consistency on offense. Orlando is scoring 108.4 points per game this season, but needs a more consistent effort on the defensive end.
The Magic need to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket. They did a good job of this on Wednesday night. However, this is something they did not do a good job of Tuesday night against the Pistons. If Orlando can do that and avoid sitting out by the three-point line and jacking up shot after shot like they did in Tuesday night’s loss (Orlando was 10-of-35 from beyond the three-point line), their defense should be able to handle the Pistons offense.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)