With 14 seconds left on the shot clock in overtime at the Caesers Arena, Blake Griffin drives into the paint and sinks a layup and puts this game in the books. Griffin, after missing the game winning shot at the end of the fourth quarter renewed himself by scoring 7 of the teams 11 in OT.
These two teams hit the court with one objective in mind. That objective was moving an inch closer into the playoff picture. With the dub, Detroit climbed ahead of Orlando and they are now just one game out of the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference.
Orlando came into the game on back-to-back wins against two of the best teams in the league with the Celtics and Rockets. But, once again, they snapped their short-lived winning streak due to their inconsistency problems that Vucevic has publicly spoken out about.
Detroit has now won 6 of the past 7 when the Magic have visited their arena. They are also now leading the series 2-1 with one game yet to be played in front of the Detroit crowd at the end of March.
Griffin made his presence known throughout the whole game. Griffin exploited the 40 pound difference miss-match with Isaac. He played a team high 40 minutes and dropped 30 points, which was his 14th 30+ performance this season. Blake had the assist of the game as he passed the ball to Drummond in between two defenders and Drummond finished with a posterizing dunk. He also rejected two of the Magics shots.
Orlando played strong defense in the first quarter and forced a couple early shot clock violations. Evan Fournier sunk 7 points and Terrance Ross put up two shots from beyond the arc which gave them an early 8 point lead to close the first.
Ross came into the second quarter with a hot hand too and it seemed like he would be on his way to a high scoring performance. Although he probably was just showboating in front of his former H.C. Dwayne Casey. Both of these teams had a similar tempo in the second as they kept catching and shooting which kept the score very close. At the end of the quarter Detroit had a 32-29 lead.
Steve Clifford, "The third quarter we did not [shoot good], we never had them [pistons] under control". Orlando's head coach said it best. Ish Smith came off the bench and gave the Pistons momentum and completely changed the tempo and pace at which the game was being played. Smith returned from his torn abductor muscle injury in their last game against the Jazz and the same thing happened. When Smith is on the court, the teams chemistry changes in their favor.
The Pistons ability to grab the offensive boards in the final minute of the fourth quarter, three specifically, led the teams to a tie. Vucevic was red-hot until the final minute where he missed a 19 foot jumper and that brought the game to overtime.
Aforementioned, Blake Griffin brought home the victory in the overtime by dropping 7 points and attributing a clutch layup. Not to mention Griffin's ridiculous block on Aaron Gordon which killed their confidence.
Vucevic did everything he could, but not every shot is going to fall. He finished the game 11-22 with a team best 24 points and picked up 13 boards. Drummond has officially taken the lead in the "match-up within the match-up" as this marked his 11th win in the past 21 times they've faced off. Drummond finished with 22 rebounds, something that is accustomed to see, and 14 points.
Detroit will be hosting Whiteside and the Heat on Friday in another exciting battle of the bigs. With a win and a Charlotte loss on Thursday, the Pistons will find their way back into the playoff picture for the first time since the end of November.
The Magic will travel back home to the warm climate to play the Nets on Friday. Brooklyn, like the Magic, just beat the Celtics and Rockets in triple-digit games. This will be an extremely fair game and I'd expect it to stay tight throughout.
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