The Orlando Magic attempt to even their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Detroit Pistons at two games apiece, as the teams battle tonight at Amway Arena.
After losing Games 1 and 2 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Orlando picked up a huge win at home. On Wednesday, Rashard Lewis scored a career playoff-high 33 points, and the third-seeded Magic took advantage of an injury to All-Star guard Chauncey Billups to pull away and beat the No. 2 Detroit, 111-86.
Dwight Howard added 20 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots for the Magic, while Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu both scored 18 in the victory. Keyon Dooling had all 10 of his points in the final quarter of the win.
Richard Hamilton scored 24 to lead the Pistons, who also got 22 points from Tayshaun Prince and 19 from rookie Rodney Stuckey. Detroit was outscored, 38-17, in the final quarter.
Billups (strained right hamstring) is questionable. He is averaging 15.8 points and 5.7 assists per game in the playoffs.
The Magic, who have never won a playoff series when they lose the first two games of the set, have lost two straight Game 3s in the postseason. Orlando is 4-0 at home in this year's playoffs.
The Pistons, who are 2-2 on the road in this year's postseason, are 8-4 in their last 12 Game 4s in the playoffs
Game 5 of this series is scheduled for Tuesday at The Palace.
This is the fourth time these teams have met in the postseason. Orlando swept the Pistons, 3-0, in the first round of the 1996 playoffs. Detroit ousted the Magic in seven games in the 2003 quarterfinals and swept Orlando, 4-0, in round one last year.
Detroit, which defeated Philadelphia is six games, 4-2, in round one, has advanced to the East semifinals for the sixth straight year. The Pistons have won this round four straight times. Their only loss during the stretch was in 2002 to the Boston Celtics, 4-1.
The Pistons have made the Eastern Conference finals five straight years. They lost in six games, 4-2, last year to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East finals. Detroit is attempting to become the first team since the 1984-89 Los Angeles Lakers to reach six straight conference finals.
Orlando knocked off the sixth-seeded Toronto Raptors in five games, 4-1, in the opening round of the postseason. The Magic, who had dropped six straight playoff series heading into this year's postseason, won a first-round series for the first time since 1996 when they swept Detroit. They advanced to the Eastern Conference finals that year and were swept by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, 4-0.
