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First-place teams meet in Orlando

Jan 21, 2008 - 2:47 PM Detroit (29-12) at Orlando (25-17) 7:00 pm EST

ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) - The Detroit Pistons hope to avoid a season-high third straight loss when they visit the Orlando Magic in a battle of first-place teams Monday.

While they have dropped consecutive games, the Pistons still own a comfortable seven-game lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Central Division.

Detroit also is facing the right team as it looks to stop its mini-losing streak. The Pistons have beaten the Magic nine straight times, including a four-game sweep in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season.

The Magic also enter struggling, having lost six of their last nine games. But they are coming off a 101-94 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday.

Orlando holds a two-game lead over Washington in the Southeast Division.

Dwight Howard has recorded seven straight double-doubles and leads the league in rebounding at 15.2 per game. Howard did have just 10 points in the win over the Trail Blazers, which was his second-lowest scoring output of the season.