|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) – Detroit Pistons coach George Irvine
taught Ben Wallace everything he knows about the art of offensive
rebounding.
| |  | |
| Wallace |
Wallace finished with 14 points, 12 offensive rebounds and nine defensive rebounds as the Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 100-97 Friday night.
"I coached him a lot this morning on how to get those offensive rebounds," Irvine said. "Of course, keep in mind that I only had about 12 in my career and he had 12 tonight."
Wallace returned to the Detroit lineup after missing two games of Detroit's 0-4 road trip while attending his grandmother's funeral.
"This was a tough week, but my family was great," Wallace said. "I knew they were dealing with things OK, and they told me to get back to work."
Wallace said that his focus on the offensive boards was a
response to Orlando's up-tempo style.
"We know they like to run, and the only way we can stop that is
to attack the offensive boards," Wallace said. "They can't run if
they don't have the ball."
Detroit snapped its five-game losing streak and ended its string
of 29 straight losses when trailing at halftime.
"I give the players a lot of credit," Irvine said. "We wondered how they would respond after that road trip, and they showed us."
Jerry Stackhouse had 33 points for the Pistons. Mike Miller led
Orlando with 21 points, and Tracy McGrady added 18.
Orlando led 56-54 at the half and took a double-digit lead with
an 8-0 run midway through the third quarter. McGrady scored four
points in the run and set up another basket.
Orlando led 86-78 at the start of the fourth quarter, but did
not score for the first 3:58 of the period. The Magic shot 3-for-22
(13.8 percent) in the fourth quarter
"This game didn't slip away, we gave it away," McGrady said. "I guess we thought they were going to give up, but they didn't. All of the hard work from beating Philly, and we blew it here."
Detroit pulled within 88-87 on a Corliss Williamson's jumper
with 5:54 left.
Darrell Armstrong scored for the Magic, but Williamson answered
and Stackhouse hit a 3-point to put Detroit ahead 92-90.
Stackhouse missed a pair of free throws with 2:09 left, but
Mikki Moore, fouled on the rebound, converted a pair of free throws
as Detroit moved out to a 98-95 advantage.
Miller and Pat Garrity missed 3-pointers for the Magic. After
Stackhouse missed, Detroit fouled Armstrong, who hit two free
throws and pulled the Magic within one point with 19.1 seconds
left.
Stackhouse was fouled and hit a pair of free throws and Miller's layup try was blocked by Wallace.
"They played hard down the stretch, and we let up," Miller
said. "We had a 10-point lead, and we can't be giving those away.
Not at this point."
After Detroit's Chucky Atkins missed a pair of free throws, a
3-pointer try by Orlando's Michael Doleac bounced off the rim as
time expired.
"The way this season has been going, most nights Doleac makes
that shot," Stackhouse said. "We could have put it away with
Chucky's free throws, but we never make it easy on ourselves."
Game notes
The game was delayed when balloons dropped to celebrate the
Pistons' first basket floated onto the court. ... Official Jim
Clark expressed his views on the NBA's tighter hand-check rules.
When he called a first-quarter foul on Orlando's Mike Miller, he
said: "Foul on number 50 – I hate this rule – hand check."
 Send this story to a friend
|
|
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Orlando Clubhouse
Detroit Clubhouse
RECAPS
Philadelphia 102
Golden State 89
Toronto 110
New Jersey 99
Indiana 92
Boston 87
Denver 103
Charlotte 96
Detroit 100
Orlando 97
Utah 95
Cleveland 88
Portland 96
New York 79
Seattle 94
LA Clippers 84
LA Lakers 98
Dallas 89
Sacramento 110
Minnesota 98
|
