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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Pistons rally on road, take 3-1 series lead

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

There is a reason the Detroit Pistons have been to five consecutive Eastern Conference finals. They proved it on Saturday, even without their All-Star point guard to hold things together in front of a hostile crowd.

Richard Hamilton scored 32 points and Hedo Turkoglu missed a layup with time running out as the Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 90-89 at Orlando, Fla., to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Pistons became the first team to win on the road in the second round this postseason, and can clinch their sixth consecutive conference finals appearance when the series returns to Detroit on Tuesday.

All of it happened with Chauncey Billups watching in a sport coat on the bench after straining a hamstring in Game 3.

“We just played ‘D’ – that’s what we do,” said Rasheed Wallace, who had 16 points and eight rebounds. “It was a physical game on both sides of the ball. That is our style. We like being physical. We just wish we could do that more often.”

Tayshaun Prince scored 17 for Detroit, including an 11-foot runner for the go-ahead basket with 8.9 seconds left. Antonio McDyess added eight points and 14 rebounds.

Detroit climbed out of a 55-44 halftime deficit with a 15-0 run over nearly seven minutes in the third quarter to tie it at 63. McDyess and Hamilton each scored four in the run and Lindsey Hunter, activated because of Billups’ injury, hit a 3-pointer. The Magic missed eight straight shots and committed two turnovers in the span.

Pistons rookie Rodney Stuckey, a former Eastern Washington University standout, made his first playoff start in place of Billups, but Hunter took over the ball-handling duties much of the time with Stuckey in foul trouble. Hunter rarely appeared in the regular season, playing a career-low 24 games and spending 46 on the inactive list in his 15th pro year. He looked rusty early but finished with eight points and three assists.

Stuckey added six points and three assists.

Cavaliers 108, Celtics 84: At Cleveland, LeBron James scored 21 points on another off-shooting night, but Delonte West scored 21, Joe Smith had 17 and the Cavaliers raced to a large, early lead in Game 3 in a victory over Boston to pull within 2-1 in their playoff series.

West, who spent three seasons wearing Celtic green and white, carried the scoring load for the Cavaliers, who are attempting to become the 14th team in NBA history to come back from a 0-2 deficit and win a best-of-7 series.

They’ve had practice at it.

Last year, the Cavaliers lost the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals to Detroit before beating the Pistons four in a row to advance to the finals for the first time. After dropping Games 1 and 2 in Boston, Cleveland needed James (8 of 42 in the losses) to shoot his way out of a slump.

James was only 5 of 16 from the floor, but his teammates stepped it up, going a combined 32 of 54 (59 percent) to tighten the second-round series.

Cleveland roared to a 32-13 lead after one quarter, led by 17 at half, 16 after three and easily withstood a few Boston counterpunches.

The Celtics remain lost on the road, and Game 4 is Monday night in Cleveland.

They’ve yet to win outside of Massachusetts during this postseason. The Celtics went 0-3 in Atlanta during the first round as the Hawks averaged 100.7 points and shot 47.6 percent in three home games.

Kevin Garnett scored 17 points, Paul Pierce 14 and Ray Allen 10 as Boston’s three superstars combined for 41 points.