Pistons at Magic
The opener of a four-game road trip did not go so well for the Detroit Pistons, who were crushed 125-88 at Indiana on Friday to fall for the 10th time in 13 games. The Orlando Magic, who host the Pistons on Sunday, were in the midst of their own slide before stepping up for an impressive victory over the Toronto Raptors.
Detroit committed 22 turnovers, shot 37.4 percent from the floor and allowed the Pacers to shoot 60.2 percent in its worst loss of the season. "I want to first apologize to the fans of the Detroit Pistons,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey told reporters in a postgame press conference that was delayed more than 15 minutes while the team met behind closed doors. "We've got to have more pride than we played with tonight, more togetherness. Indiana outworked us in every facet of the game." The Magic are coming off their best performance in weeks after posting a 116-87 victory over the NBA-best Raptors, snapping a four-game slide. "When we lock in, we can play with anybody in this league," Orlando swingman Jonathon Simmons told reporters. "But we have to lock in every night. We're the type of team where we can't have any slippage."
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, FS Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE PISTONS (16-17): Star forward Blake Griffin scored a team-high 18 points on Friday but also committed seven turnovers. "I thought it was all positive in the sense that we're all on the same page," Griffin told reporters of the postgame team meeting. "The biggest thing that I would say as players, we are taking the onus. Coaches are giving us great defensive game plans, we walk through and we're prepared for every single game and then we just come out and either don't play hard or play hard one game and the next game we won't. It’s just about consistency and that's the gist of everything. That's why I say it was positive. It's not like a bunch of finger pointing." Detroit was beginning a string of eight of 10 on the road Friday and is 5-9 away from home.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (15-19): Center Nikola Vucevic continued his quiet All-Star bid by piling up 30 points, 20 rebounds and eight assists in 33 minutes on Friday. "That was a very, very good performance by us on both ends - one of our best games, for sure, playing against one of the best teams, if not the best team in the NBA right now," Vucevic told reporters. "I'm sure there was a little bit (of desperation). We knew that we can't keep losing, especially at home. Extending this losing stretch would make it hard for us to recover. So, guys individually understood that it was time for us to turn things around. Everything clicked for us on both ends." The Magic held Toronto to 29.5 percent from the floor and bridged halftime with a 54-16 run to put the game away.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pistons SG Luke Kennard scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting after being benched in Wednesday's win and going 3-of-20 from the floor in the previous four contests.
2. Magic PF Jonathan Isaac matched a career high with three made 3-pointers on Friday.
3. Detroit C Andre Drummond collected 23 points and 19 rebounds in a 103-96 win at Orlando on Nov. 7.