Final
Hamilton, Billups help Pistons exact revenge
Jan 26, 2008 - 4:55 AM By Chuck Klonke PA SportsTicker Contributing WriterAUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) - The Detroit Pistons made sure there wasn't a need for a last-second shot.
Richard Hamilton had 32 points and eight rebounds and Chauncey Billups scored 21 as the Pistons bounced back Friday with their highest-scoring first half of the season en route to a 101-93 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Just five days ago, the Pistons watched their nine-game winning streak over the Magic come to an end when Rashard Lewis nailed the game-winning jumper at the buzzer.
"It was tough losing how we lost in Orlando," said Hamilton, who handed out eight assists. "We had to come out and be aggressive and try to get a win."
"It was revenge," Pistons forward Antonio McDyess said. "It wasn't anything that was said, but when you lose like that you want some payback."
In this one, Detroit created an impressive 68-49 advantage at halftime after leading by as many as 27 points midway through the second quarter following Hamilton's 3-pointer.
"The guys came out with a lot of energy, sharing the ball, defending and trying to get easy baskets," Hamilton said. "We got a lot of second opportunities tonight, trying to keep them off the glass. They're a great rebounding team."
The Pistons also dominated the glass in the opening half, outrebounding the Magic, 27-10, with Detroit getting 16 of those on the offensive end, including seven by McDyess.
"That first quarter is as bad as it gets from our perspective," Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We played very poorly, and worse than that, we didn't compete very hard. The Pistons got every rebound at both ends and we didn't stop them much.
"I think we played good from an offensive standpoint, but the game was over in the first quarter. The numbers in the first quarter and the rebounding was embarrassing."
Rasheed Wallace was the story of the first quarter, going 6-of-6 to help the Pistons jump out to a 39-18 lead at the end of the quarter.
"(Wallace) was our focal point," Billups said. "We wanted to go to him early on the block against Rashard Lewis. We felt like it was a mismatch and we wanted to establish that. He came out and hit a big three and just had a lot of energy."
It was the highest-scoring period of the season for Detroit, which topped its output against Memphis on December 11. The Pistons shot 77 percent (17-of-22) in the period.
Orlando tried to make things interesting with an 11-0 run to cut Detroit's lead to 87-74 going into the fourth quarter. The Magic drew even closer on a 3-pointer by Hedo Turkoglu, which made it 100-93 with 22.7 seconds left.
"We were trying to chase all night long and it's hard to come back when they get a lead like that," Turkoglu said. "We didn't have enough time to catch up."
Turkoglu netted 23 points and Dwight Howard collected 22 and 14 boards for the Magic, who had their three-game winning streak stopped.
- NBA
ORLANDO 93
DETROIT 101 FINAL
Jan 25 9:35 PM - NBA
ORLANDO 74
DETROIT 87 END, 3RD QTR
Jan 25 8:56 PM - NBA
ORLANDO 49
DETROIT 68 HALFTIME
Jan 25 8:13 PM - NBA
ORLANDO 18
DETROIT 39 END, 1ST QTR
Jan 25 7:39 PM
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