• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Pistons, Magic open Eastern Conference semifinals

May 3, 2008 - 1:52 PM Orlando at Detroit 7:30 pm EDT Eastern Conference semifinals

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) - The second-seeded Detroit Pistons and third-seeded Orlando Magic meet on Saturday for Game One of their Eastern Conference semifinal clash.

The Pistons, who were expected in many basketball circles to steamroll their way into the conference finals, got a rude awakening during their first-round series against the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.

Detroit lost Game One at home and eventually trailed two-games-to-one before putting together three impressive wins.

The Pistons evened the series with an 11-point victory in Game Four and followed that up with a convincing 98-81 triumph in Game Five.

Richard Hamilton scored 24 points and Chauncey Billups added 20 and seven assists as the Pistons eliminated the 76ers with a 100-77 victory in Game Six on Thursday.

Hamilton showed no signs of the hip injury which forced him to miss five games during the final month of the season as he averaged nearly 20 points, five rebounds and 4.5 assists.

Detroit and Orlando split the four-game season series, with both teams claiming a win on the road. The Pistons had few problems sweeping the Magic in the first round of the playoffs last season.

"It's going to be a fun series," Hamilton said. "We played them a lot this season and last year in the playoffs. They've been playing great. It's our job to come out and do what we do and go home and take care of home court."

The Magic were very impressive during their opening-round series, ousting the sixth-seeded Toronto Raptors in five games.

Dwight Howard averaged 22 points and 18 rebounds per game while becoming just the fourth player in NBA history to post consecutive 20 point-20 rebound performances in Games One and Two.