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Magic snap Pistons' 10-game streak

Feb 20, 2008 - 4:37 AM AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- Fresh off his Superman performance at the NBA All-Star game, Orlando center Dwight Howard was brought crashing back to earth Tuesday night.

His supporting cast picked up the slack, however, as Rashard Lewis scored 20 points to lead six players in double figures and power the Orlando Magic to a 103-85 victory over the Detroit Pistons.

Howard was held to just two field goals and eight points, but his teammates came through big-time to snap Detroit's 10-game winning streak.

"On the offensive side, I really couldn't get anything going," Howard said. "I was just trying to pick it up on the defensive end. Making sure every time someone came in the lane I was trying to block it. I guess it worked."

Orlando (34-21) evened the season series with the Pistons (39-14) at 2-2 in what could be a preview of what could be a second-round playoff matchup. It was the league-high 20th road victory by the Magic.

Orlando's Keith Bogans came off the bench to score a dozen first-half points and 19 overall. Benchmate Keyon Dooling added 11 points while starters Maurice Evans scored 16, Hedo Turkoglu 12 and Jameer Nelson 10.

The trio of Pistons' All-Stars Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton carried the team early but it was a night when the shots didn't fall.

Detroit shot just 38 percent overall, and in the first half were an uncharacteristic 0-for-6 from 3-point range, finishing just 2-of-14.

"We got shell-shocked. We didn't have the scrambling play and the intensity we need to play," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "Offensively we couldn't make the shot. I thought we played too much one-on-one. We played out of sync at both ends, but give credit to Orlando."

Billups hit the Pistons' first 3-pointer less than two minutes into the second half.

Orlando, meanwhile, took control of the game with its blistering 3-point shooting, hitting 13-of-20.

"When we started the game off we pretty much said just don't let Dwight dunk it, know what I'm saying," Billups said. "You can't take away dunks and threes, you've got to give up something.

"They got hot and they stayed hot. We didn't play good ,either, know what I mean. If we play good and they still hit threes, I still think we beat them."

Coach Stan Van Gundy said the Magic took advantage of the good looks from 3-point range.

"I thought that we got a lot of open looks against their zone. Wide open looks and we knocked them down," Van Gundy said. "I thought we did a great job of moving the ball. It was one of those nights where everything went in but we had very open 3-point shots.

"I did not think there were any that we had to rush and we had plenty of time. The ball movement was great and we were able to get real good shots."

Detroit matched its biggest lead at 31-24 before Dooling and Bogans combined for 19 points in a 28-12 burst to take a 49-41 lead in the first half.

Pistons rookie Rodney Stuckey hit a pair of free throws to end the half with the Magic ahead, 52-45.

Stuckey made the most of his extended minutes with a career-high 16 points for Detroit, which lost for just the fifth time in 26 home games.