Magic at Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are clicking at the offensive end and might be coming off their most impressive performance of the season - a 121-85 triumph at Atlanta on Friday to finish off a four-game road trip. The Pistons will try to follow that up Sunday when they return home to face head coach Stan Van Gundy's former team - the Orlando Magic.
Detroit averaged 118 points over the last three games - all wins - and Van Gundy can't point to anything specific thing to explain the recent uptick in offense. "I haven’t figured out anything, but (our players) have," Van Gundy told reporters. "Our ball movement has been good. Something we’ve been stressing is, ‘Shoot the ball’. Before, we had guys not ready to shoot and not stepping into shots, hesitating, passing up good shots." The Magic are enduring a five-game road trip and earned two wins in the first three stops with the lone loss a 95-94 setback at Memphis on Thursday. Orlando, which won at San Antonio to begin the trip, bounced back by throttling the Philadelphia 76ers 105-88 on Friday.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), FSN Detroit Plus
ABOUT THE MAGIC (8-12): Orlando was disappointed in its effort on Thursday and came in determined to fight Friday - even on the second night of a back-to-back. "We didn’t like the feeling of last night’s game and we know that the ball stopped moving," forward Aaron Gordon told reporters after Friday's win. "We have good veterans on this team and we’re a high-IQ basketball team. The result is the way we played (on Friday)." Gordon went 0-of-12 from the floor in the last home game on Nov. 27 but is 17-of-29 on the road trip.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (11-10): Detroit shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is no longer just an asset on the defensive end and continues to increase his scoring load. The 23-year-old is averaging 22 points while going 11-of-20 from 3-point range in the last three games. "I’m very confident," Caldwell-Pope told reporters. "I’m out here just playing my game and controlling the things I can control. Some nights I’m not going to shoot that well. But I can get in on the defensive end and try to get myself going."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Magic G Jodie Meeks (foot) made his season debut on Friday and scored nine points in 17 minutes off the bench.
2. Pistons PG Ish Smith is averaging 14.6 points on 57.1 percent shooting in the last five games.
3. Detroit won the last seven in the series, including a 108-82 home triumph on Oct. 28.