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Lewis' 33 Points Lead Magic Past Pistons 111-86; Series 2-1
Wednesday, 07-May-2008 11:30PM AP / TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer
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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The Orlando Magic won't be swept by the Detroit Pistons again. Rashard Lewis made sure of it Wednesday night.

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Lewis scored a career playoff-high 33 points and the Magic broke down the Pistons' stout defense in a 111-86 victory. Detroit leads the Eastern Conference semifinals 2-1, but it may have to play without All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups.

The Pistons lost Billups just four minutes into the game when he drove to the basket and got tangled up with Orlando's Jameer Nelson. Nelson's leg caught Billups' foot, and the Pistons guard fell hard to the court with a strained right hamstring. Billups, Detroit's steady floor leader and clutch 3-point threat, was averaging 17.5 points in the postseason and had 28 against the Magic in Game 2.

Pistons coach Flip Saunders said the team hoped Billups would be able to play in Game 4 on Saturday in Orlando, but would re-evaluate him on Thursday.

"I'm concerned because he's our quarterback; he runs our team", Saunders said. "You saw our first two games. He's been a huge part of why we've been successful -- that matchup has been huge for us."

Richard Hamilton scored 24 points for Detroit and Tayshaun Prince had 22, while Rasheed Wallace scored 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting. With Billups out, rookie Rodney Stuckey stepped up big for the Pistons, scoring 19 points -- nine in the second quarter.

Dwight Howard had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Orlando, and Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu both scored 18.

The Magic had lost nine straight playoff games to the Pistons, tied for the fourth-longest streak in NBA history. That dated to 2003, when Detroit rallied from a 3-1 deficit to advance, and included a 4-0 sweep in the first round last season.

Immediately after Billups was injured Orlando went on an 18-4 run in under six minutes to take a 24-6 lead, by far its largest of the series to that point. The Magic held a one-point lead in Game 1 and were up by four in Game 2. Nelson scored eight points in the run and had 12 in the first quarter on 4-of-6 shooting.

The Pistons drew within 73-69 at the end of the third quarter despite going nearly four minutes without a field goal. Besides a jumper by Wallace, Stuckey, Hamilton and Prince scored all 27 points for Detroit in the third quarter, while Orlando went 6-of-21 from the field.

Two stars struggling in the series for both teams -- Orlando's Lewis and Detroit's Hamilton -- found their stroke in the first half. Lewis scored 12 of Orlando's last 14 points before halftime, while Hamilton scored 10 on a handful of jumpers in the second quarter.

Lewis was shooting just 36 percent from the field in the first two games of the series, including 2-of-12 from 3-point range. He shot 11-of-15 on Wednesday, 5-of-6 from behind the arc.

Detroit failed to score a field goal in the opening 4:27 of the fourth quarter until Hamilton made a layup. By then the Magic were ahead 87-73, and the Pistons would get no closer.

Orlando finally found a way to take care of the ball. The Magic had 11 turnovers, the same as Detroit in Game 3 and a vast improvement over the 19 they committed in Game 2.

Notes:@ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy joked before the game that Orlando would probably be "the first one under the new rule to have a basket disallowed" if the NBA changed its replay procedures following Billups' controversial third-quarter 3-pointer on Monday. The league said Tuesday the basket shouldn't have counted, but the referees had no choice. ... Detroit's 16 first-quarter points set a 2008 team playoff low, while Orlando's 30 in the period set a Pistons' opponent high for a quarter. ... The Pistons were the only playoff team that hasn't given up 100 points in a game.

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