Detroit Pistons 85, Orlando Magic 80

There may have been some new faces in the lineup in that familiar red, white and blue. There may have been some familiar faces sitting on the bench with injuries, providing Orlando some hope of stealing a victory. But, oh that result just remained the same.

Frustration. Floundering. Flustering.

Just another game with the Detroit Pistons.

Orlando and Detroit were in a real defensive slugfest tied at 77 late in the fourth quarter. But the speedy Pistons got to Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat and outscored the Magic 8-3 in the final moments to take an 85-80 win at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Tuesday night.

The familiar frustrating Pistons defense bottled up Dwight Howard, who fouled out in 17 minutes after scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds. Detroit just knows how to defend Howard, it does not matter who is in uniform for them.

With Howard on the bench in foul trouble for most of the game -- and on the bench for parts of the third quarter after re-aggravating the shoulder he strained in Sunday's win over Toronto -- Detroit proceeded to attack the tired and undermanned Orlando defense.

Stan Van Gundy admitted as much after the game that Vince Carter could not keep anyone in front of him and that is probably why Carter was sitting on the bench for the entire fourth quarter.

Carter, in his defense, was returning from a one-game absence after spraining his ankle Friday night in New Jersey. Vince finished with 15 points in 30 minutes.

With those two players struggling throughout the night, the offense stagnated for the first time all season. Orlando shot 10 of 35 from beyond the arc and were reluctant to get to the basket. The team had just 16 free throw attempts.

Detroit, on the other hand, used its unconventional three-guard backcourt of Will Bynum, Rodney Stuckey and Ben Gordon to speed its way past Orlando. The Pistons hit on 31 of their 38 free throw attempts. Bynum especially found himself in the paint for much of the night and especially late on his way to 20 points for the game.

The only good news is that the Magic held the Pistons under 40 percent shooting for the night. Not sure how much of it was their defense (I was only able to watch the second half), but the rotations generally looked better. It was hard to tell since Orlando was not making anyone pay tonight, missing open shots and settling for jumpers. That is the simple way to shoot 36.7 percent (29 for 79) from the floor.

That is not beating anybody, even on this night.

Kudos to the Magic for hanging in there tonight and sticking with the defensive gameplan. They kept fighting and scratching even with Howard out and Carter clearly not at 100 percent. The agression was not there and it was clear the team was still a little gassed after playing only nine players in Sunday's game (even after taking Monday off).

They clearly were not ready for the speed the Pistons had and looked, well, a little old at times.

You cannot win all 82 games and I was kind of hoping the Magic would get served some humble pie and mortality. They certainly learned they are not going to shoot 50 percent every game and will have to rely on their defense. Offensively, this was a freak game where shots would not fall and with Howard out, no one could create near the basket -- especially with Ben Wallace becoming Ben Wallace again.

A quick turnaround to play undefeated Phoenix will be another stiff challenge tomorrow. I am more interested to see how this team responds to the defeat in tomorrow night's game.