Remember my handy little template for writing Pistons game recaps?
The Pistons allowed the hot-shooting [insert opponent here] to take a commanding lead on [insert day of game], at one point trailing by as many as [insert largest deficit here] — at times [insert opponent's leading scorer] was simply unstoppable. In the end, however, the Boys in Blue withstood the charge, putting on the clamps in the second half before relying on [insert player here] to key a fourth-quarter rally.
It, uh, doesn't always work . . .
The Pistons allowed the hot-shooting [Magic] to take a commanding lead on [Friday], at one point trailing by as many as [16] — at times [Hedo Turkoglu] was simply unstoppable. In the end, however, the Boys in Blue withstood the charge, putting on the clamps in the second half before relying on [umm...] to key a fourth-quarter rally.
The Pistons were without Rip Hamilton, who unfortunately had to leave the team to attend a family funeral. DBB favorite Carlos Delfino got the start but had an otherwise invisible game with just two points in 13 minutes. For the Magic, Darko scored eight with four boards in 23 minutes while Carlos Arroyo scored 10 in 26 -- the duo came off the bench and missed a combined two shots all night.
As for the rest of the game, well, the Pistons scored two less points than the Magic. We're still trying to wrap our heads around how that happened, but for some insight from Todd Sikorski, who runs the best Orlando Magic blog out there when he's not busy doing guest-spots on DBB, check out the game recap over at Believing in Magic.
Magic 89, Pistons 87 box score [ESPN]
Deja Vu-Magic Pull Out Another Close One in Beating Detroit [Believing in Magic]