The Detroit Pistons headed back home after beating the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of playoffs. Tonight, they took on the Orlando Magic and beat them at the Palace in a 91-77 win. There seemed to be some tension between the two teams, but that didn’t seem to matter to the home crowd who are thrilled with the Pistons’ victory.
The MVP for the Pistons was once again Richard Hamilton. The Pistons top guard has done exceptionally well during the playoffs. Tonight, Hamilton went 7 for 14 scoring 17 points. He had 6 rebounds and 3 assists. He was backed up by Chauncey Billups who was 5 for 14. Billups scored 19 points. He had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Forward Tayshaun Prince went 5 for 16 and forward Jason Maxiell went 5 for 8 while non-starter Antonio McDyess went 5 for 9. Prince and Maxiell scored 12 points a piece while McDyess scored 10. Between the three, there were 22 rebounds and 6 assists.
The Magic tried to play their best, but it is hard to argue with a Pistons team that is on fire. Frustrations flared up in the later part of the game and the Magic faced two technical fouls while the Pistons had one. Hedo Turkoglu was the MVP for the Magic. He scored 18 points and went 8 out of 16. He had 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
Rashard Lewis, who was charged with a foul on Theo Ratliff (Ratliff, by the way, went 2 for 2 scoring 6 points), went 9 for 22 scoring 18 points. Lewis had 7 rebounds and 2 assists. The heated exchange on the court between Lewis and Ratliff has no doubt left a bad taste in both teams’ mouths.
The Pistons take on Orlando again on May 5, 2008 at 7:00 PM at the Palace. The Pistons are hoping to make the series 2-0 before they had down to Orlando on Wednesday, May 7.
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Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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