Big first quarter carries Magic over Pistons
Posted by pistonsnation[det 103 / ORL 110] The Orlando Magic used a 40-23 opening quarter to exact a measure of revenge from 3 nights prior when the Pistons handed them their first loss of the season.
The Magic came out last night in that first quarter and looked like a team that was sick of having a Piston shaped monkey on their backs. Before the Pistons could blink the Magic had jumped out to an early 18-3 lead. Orlando scored 40 points in the first quarter on 73% shooting. They connected their first 5 triple tries. They did basically what they wanted to do. Nine of their total 19 assists came in that one quarter alone.
Even though the Pistons outscored the Magic in the last 3 quarters they remained down double digits for most of the game. That 1st quarter kept the Pistons woozy until basically the 4th quarter when Charlie Villanueva caught fire. CV scored 22 -of his game high 28 (on 65 FG%)- in that in the fourth.
The Pistons got real great efforts from Austin Daye (11p on 5/7 FG, 5r) and fellow rook Jonas Jerebko (9p on 3/3 FG, 6r). I think Rip and Tayshaun’s injuries are going to turn out to be a blessings in disguise. Guys like Daye and Jerebko will have gained more confidence and experience with all the extra minutes those two injuries have provided for them.
The offense still isn’t where it should be. It’s nice to see the Pistons break the century mark, but they’re still lacking movement. The Pistons finished with 13 assists last night -which is an improvement- but I’d at least like to see that total up near 18-20. They’re good shooting night (51%) helped them stay in it last night.
GAME NOTES: The closest the Pistons got to Orlando was in the 4th 96-90 … Stuckey: 20 pts, 5 rebs … BG7: 19 pts, 5 asts …No Vince Carter, Anthony Johnson, or Rashard Lewis for Orl … Ben Wallace cut back to 17 minutes … Orlando shot 30/35 from the line … Dwight Howard 22 & 12 … The Pistons were staying at a downtown hotel less than mile from where a gunman opened fire and killed 1 person and wounded 5 others late Friday morning, causing a shutdown of city streets during a search for the assailant. They had to detour returning to the team hotel after the morning practice [espn]
Tags: Austin Daye, Charlie Villanueva, Detroit Pistons, Jonas Jerebko, Orlando Magic
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 11:31 am and is filed under Game recap, Magic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
