Lewis leads Magic in rout of Billups-less Pistons

Rashard Lewis posted a career playoff high 33 points, hitting 5 of his teams 11 threes as the Orlando Magic manhandled the Pistons by 25, 111-86. Orlando got a plethora of input from their star players offensively, unlike in the previous two games. Dwight Howard scored 20 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked 6 shots and Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu chipped in 18 points apiece for the well balanced Magic. Jameer set the tone early in the first quarter as the Magic came out white hot with a 24-6 lead. They cooled off in the second period but led by 12 at halftime. By then the Pistons were already without their most important player, point guard Chauncey Billups, who strained his hamstring four minutes into the first quarter.

Even without Billups the Pistons made a huge comeback in the third period, outscoring the Magic by 8 to go into the 4th down just 4, 73-69. Besides a jump-shot by Rasheed Wallace, who finished 4-15 from the floor for 11 points, Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey and Richard Hamilton combined for the rest of the 27 Pistons’ points in the quarter. Orlando led them back in by shooting only 6-21 in the period. The Magic weren’t going to let this game get away, though, as they outscored Detroit by 21, 38-17, in the 4th. Hamilton led the Pistons with 24 points. Prince added 22 while the rookie Stuckey, in place of Billups, scored 19 off the bench. Detroit didn’t show the same emotion without their star point guard even though they came back from a huge deficit. As a team they shot 40% from the field and dished out only 12 assists, without the leadership of a veteran like Chauncey. Coach Flip Saunders said in the press conference after the game that he expects Billups to play in game 4. He will be re-evaluated today, Thursday, to get the long-term diagnosis.

After the first two games in which Rashard Lewis shot a combined 36% from the floor, he bouced back in a big way in game 3, shooting 11-15 from the floor, 5-6 from three point land. The win for Magic gives them a chance to pull even with the Pistons in game 4, which is more than possible with the uncertainty of Billups. They had previously lost 9 straight playoff games to Detroit including a four game sweep in the first round of last years’ playoffs.