ORLANDO – The Orlando Magic won their third straight by beating the Detroit Pistons 105-96 at The Amway Center on Sunday night.
The Pistons, who have decided not to play start Blake Griffith who isn’t even traveling with the team, are a young team, with Dwayne Casey at the helm, put up a decent fight against Orlando. Jeremy Grant scored 24 points for them.
“They are very hard to play against.” Said Magic Head Coach Steve Clifford. ” Very physical, they have a number of guys who can drive the basketball, and they are well disciplined. It was a good win, hard fought. We put a lot into that game.”
Orlando’s all-star center Nikola Vucevic continued on is high scoring tear for Orlando with 37 points while grabbing 12 rebounds.
His rejuvenated sidekick Evan Fournier scored 29 points for the Magic.
During this winning streak, key defensive player have returned to the fold. Al-Farouq Aminu and Michael Carter-Williams are stronger on the defensive end than on offense. Aminu had rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocked shots as he continues to work his way back into playing shape.
“I like our composure.”Aminu said “When we have gotten down, we didn’t start playing wild basket ball. We kept playing the right way, going through our progressions and sharing the ball, and working for each other. Eventually, shots started going in”
Carter-Williams had 9 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot.
Defense was a key to the Magic win, but coming through when they needed to. Orlando went on a 13-2 rain in the fourth quarter. Orlando had key contributions from Aminu, Chuma Okeke and and newcomer Chasson Randle.
The Magic and Pistons face each other again on Tuesday, February 23rd ad The Amway Center.
