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Recap: ORLANDO (NBA.com Exclusive) -- Charlie Villanueva's fourth-quarter explosion didn't get Detroit a victory Friday night, but it did illustrate what pests the Pistons have become to the Orlando Magic, even when they lose.
Villanueva scored 22 of his game-high 28 points in the final period, enough for the Pistons (2-4) to put a scare into the Magic in the final minutes of a 110-103 victory that felt more like a loss.
"I thought we had too many minutes when we were just trying to hang on and win a regular-season game," said coach Stan Van Gundy.
"We have to do a better job of keeping people off the line," said J.J. Redick, one of four Magic starters to finish the game in foul trouble.
"That's been a problem for us all year, admittedly. Guys are shooting way too many free throws against us."
Fortunately for the Magic (5-1), the Pistons missed 14 of their 37 attempts from the line, which might have saved the Magic.
Dwight Howard led the Magic with 22 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out in the final seconds.
"I'm proud of our guys," said Detroit coach John Kuester. "This could have easily been one of those nights where we just give up and don't compete, but that isn't us. We competed."
It was only the Magic's fifth victory in 25 games against the Pistons (including playoffs) since the beginning of the 2006-07 season. Even on their way to a 59-win season and a trip to the NBA Finals last season, the Magic lost all three of their games against the Pistons.
The Pistons played Friday night without Tayshaun Price, who missed a third straight game with a lower back strain, and Richard Hamilton, who has been out since the season opener with a sprained right ankle.
Magic forward Ryan Anderson left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury.
The Magic made their first six shots and their first five 3-point shots, breaking out to a 17-point lead in the first quarter.
"That was the game right there," said Piston guard Rodney Stuckey. "If we had been able to hold them in the first quarter, we would have won this game."
Stuckey and rookie Austin Daye got the Pistons back in the game before the end of the first half, and Villanueva took over in the fourth quarter.
"He was cookin'," said Magic forward Matt Barnes. "I don't think the best defender in the world could have stopped him. I was right on him, hand in his face every single time. But by the time I was on him he was hot so there was nothing I could do. I couldn't really foul him to take him out of rhythm because I had four or five fouls, so I just played the best defense I could.
"He was hitting fadeaways, jump hooks, 3-pointers, jump shots; he gave us his whole package there in the fourth quarter."
Villanueva, whose season high for a game had been 16 points, made his first seven shots of the fourth quarter as the Pistons staged a big run at the Magic, reducing the lead to 96-90 with almost three minutes left.
Barnes then scored six points on an 8-3 Magic answer that stretched Orlando's lead to 104-93 with 1:08 left.
"We had to keep trying to overcome that big lead we created for ourselves in the first quarter," said Ben Gordon. "We just couldn't get over the hump."
With a block of a Ben Gordon layup late in the first quarter, the 23-year-old Howard became the Magic's all-time leader with 825 blocked shots. Shaquille O'Neal blocked 824 in his four years in Orlando.
Vince Carter, who has not missed more than six games in any of the last five seasons, sat out his third game of this season with a sprained right ankle.
Preview: STATS -- When Detroit and Orlando met three nights ago, the Pistons knew to have any chance at winning, they needed to level the playing field and make Magic center Dwight Howard a non-factor. The strategy worked and Detroit won.
After bouncing back from that disappointing defeat with an impressive performance, Howard and the Magic look to avenge their only loss of the season when they host the Pistons on Friday night.
With Howard receiving minimal resistance, Orlando (4-1) had little trouble winning its first three games as the three-time All-Star averaged 21.7 points on 62.9 percent shooting and 16.0 rebounds.
The Pistons (2-3) offered the intimidating big man a much stiffer test Tuesday.
With Richard Hamilton (right ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (sore lower back) out, Detroit featured a smaller lineup and went right after Howard, frustrating him into fouling out just 17 minutes into the Pistons' 85-80 win. Howard finished with eight points and five rebounds, and also re-aggravated a shoulder injury sustained in Sunday's 125-116 victory at Toronto.
"We knew if we could get Dwight into foul trouble, they'd be in trouble, because we'd have an open path to the basket,'' Detroit point guard Will Bynum said after that game. "So we just tried to keep attacking.''
The Pistons have had a little history of frustrating the Magic, winning four straight in the series, but that was the first time they got Howard to foul out. He averaged 22.0 points and 15.0 rebounds in three meetings last season.
While Howard struggled against the Pistons, he and his teammates bounced back nicely in Wednesday's 122-100 win over previously unbeaten Phoenix.
The frontcourt led the way with Howard finishing with 25 points and six rebounds while Ryan Anderson had 20 points and 10 boards.
Orlando shot 52.3 percent from the field and won despite playing without Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis.
Carter's sprained left ankle doesn't appear to be too serious and he could be back for this contest while Lewis has been suspended for the first 10 games after testing positive for an elevated level of testosterone.
The 6-foot-10 Anderson, who came over in the trade with Carter from New Jersey this summer, is doing a solid job as Lewis' replacement. He's averaging 15.8 points on 44.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc, but struggled against the Pistons, finishing with seven points on 1 of 11 shooting from 3-point range.
Still, coach Stan Van Gundy was impressed with how Anderson was able to rebound from that performance.
"I think his response was pretty good for a 21-year-old guy coming off of missing 10 3's," Van Gundy said. "That was a good sign."
While the Magic responded from the tough loss at Detroit with a win, the Pistons followed up that victory with a 110-99 defeat at Toronto.
The Raptors scored 44 points in the second quarter and became the first team this season to score more than 100 points against Detroit, which entered the contest second in the NBA behind Boston in scoring defense at 85.3.
"Needless to say, you let anybody in the league score that many points and it's going to be tough to counter that,'' said Ben Gordon, who scored a season-high 30 points.
With Hamilton and Prince both listed as out for this game, the Pistons are counting on Gordon to continue to carry the offense.
Gordon had 23 points against the Magic and has led Detroit in scoring in each of the last four games.
Game Notes: Nov. 6 vs. Detroit: Orlando is 30-46 all-time vs. Detroit (20-17 at home, 10-29 on the road) during regular season action, including 0-1 this season …The Magic lost all three meetings with the Pistons last season…Orlando is 7-12 vs. Detroit in the playoffs (2-0 at home, 1-0 on the road, 1996 first round; 2-1 at home, 1-3 on the road, 2003 first round; 0-2 at home, 0-2 on the road, 2007 first round; 1-1 at home, 0-3 on the road, 2008 Conference Semifinals)...Orlando has lost 20 of the last 25 regular season meetings with the Pistons overall...The Magic have lost nine of the last 13 matchups at home and dropped 10 of the last 11 at Detroit…Assistant GM Dave Twardzik served as an assistant coach for the Pistons in 2000-01…Assistant Coach Brendan Malone served on the Pistons’ bench for seven seasons from 1988-95 and helped them capture back-to-back NBA Championships in 1989 and 1990. BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. PISTONS: 46 pts., Tracy McGrady (@ Orlando, 12-25-02); Shaquille O’Neal (@ Detroit, 2-16-93)
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. MAGIC: 42 pts., Grant Hill (@ Orlando, 1-3-00)
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