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Pistons aim to rebound with Magic in town

Jan 21, 2015 - 3:34 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Detroit Pistons will try to get back on track Wednesday night when they host the Orlando Magic at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The Pistons are 11-3 since releasing Josh Smith, but they had a two-game winning streak snapped last time out in a 93-82 road loss to the sizzling Atlanta Hawks.

Greg Monroe had a big game in defeat, scoring 16 points and tying a career high with 20 rebounds. Fellow big man Andre Drummond totaled 13 points and 18 rebounds for Detroit.

"I thought our defense was reasonably good," said Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy. "Our offense was terrible. It was as much my fault as our players' fault."

Jodie Meeks chipped in 11 off the bench and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 10 points, but shot 4-for-15 from the field.

The Pistons went 29-for-82 from the floor which translated to 35.4 percent. Detroit dominated the boards to the tune of 61-42, but committed 19 turnovers for 20 Atlanta points.

The Pistons face a tough little road trip, starting Saturday in Milwaukee. They will visit the Toronto Raptors on Sunday as both teams are currently in the Eastern Conference playoff mix. Detroit is 1 1/2 games behind the Brooklyn Nets for the eighth seed.

The Magic have lost two in a row on the heels of a two-game winning streak. Orlando is just 2-8 over its previous 10 games, including a 1-3 mark as the visitor.

On Sunday, the Magic fell at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 127-99.

Victor Oladipo tallied 23 points and five helpers and Elfrid Payton supplied 19 points and eight assists for Orlando. Nikola Vucevic finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.

The Thunder raced off to a 13-0 start and never looked back. Serge Ibaka knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the early going and an Andre Roberson triple staked OKC to its early cushion.

"They threw a pretty good first punch and it was tough for us to recover," Payton said.

The Thunder grabbed a 17-point lead after the first quarter and doubled the margin before the half.

Orlando shot 39.8 percent from the field, but allowed the Thunder to shoot a whopping 57.8 percent.

The Magic are still without starting small forward Tobias Harris, who is hobbled by a sprained left ankle. According to the team, there is no timetable for Harris' return to the lineup.

These teams have split a pair of matchups this season with the visitor prevailing each time. The Pistons and Magic have split their last eight meetings in Motown.