Men of Steel?
The Detroit Pistons were the Orlando Magic’s Kryptonite last season, beating them four times in the regular season and sweeping them in the first round of the playoffs. That was before Dwight Howard turned into the Man of Steel.
Howard, who donned a Superman costume on his way to becoming the NBA’s slam dunk champion Saturday, will try to help the Magic end the Pistons’ 10-game winning streak on Tuesday in Detroit.
Oddsmakers from Sportsbook.com have made Detroit –7 point spread favorites (NBA Odds) for today’s game, the over/under has been set at 194.5 total points (Matchup). Our public betting information shows that 53% of bets for this game have been placed on Detroit -7 (View NBA Bet Percentages).
The Magic (33-21) haven’t won at The Palace in their last seven trips, dating to Feb. 22, 2004. The Pistons, meanwhile, have won all seven of their home games in the past month and own one of the best home records in the league at 21-4.
Last season, Orlando couldn’t handle Detroit (39-13) regardless of venue. The Pistons won the four regular season meetings by an average of 9.0 points and swept the teams’ first-round playoff series by the same margin.
The Magic finally beat Detroit this season, winning 102-100 on Jan. 21, and are 1-2 against the Pistons in 2007-08. That victory was due in large part to the 23-point effort of Howard, the East’s starting center in the All-Star game.
Howard is the league’s leading rebounder at 14.6 per game, and has improved his scoring average more than four points to 21.7 this season. His work in the dunk contest wasn’t his only memorable performance of the past week, as he had 23 points and a season-high 24 rebounds – his sixth 20-20 game this season – on Wednesday in the Magic’s 109-98 win over Denver.
The dominant effort came one game after Howard was called out by coach Stan Van Gundy for focusing too much on his offense in a 118-111 loss to Cleveland on Feb. 11, when Howard had only 16 points and nine boards.
"We’ve seen games like this out of him before,’" Van Gundy said. "It’s not like Stan Van Gundy’s a motivational genius and got Dwight to play. He’s played like this several times in his career – he just needed to get his focus back."
The 6-foot-11 center may need to come up with yet another super effort Tuesday if Orlando is to draw even in the season series with the Pistons.
Detroit has won 10 straight since the Jan. 21 loss in Orlando – including a 101-93 home victory over the Magic on Jan. 25 – and has done so in dominant fashion, outscoring opponents by an average of 10.6 points.
It’s the second double-digit win streak of the season for the Pistons, who took 11 in a row from Dec. 14-Jan. 4.
"You hate to leave a streak like this, but we’ll have to come back and rev it back up," guard Chauncey Billups said after Detroit’s 96-80 home victory over Indiana on Wednesday took the team into the break.
Billups, averaging 15.1 points and 6.8 assists during the streak, was one of three Pistons to participate in Sunday’s All-Star game.
The others, Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace, are again key cogs in a balanced Detroit offense. Hamilton is averaging 16.5 points and Wallace 14.5 in the last 10 games.
"We’ve got a really good rhythm going right now," Hamilton said.
Hamilton has averaging 26.5 points in two games against Orlando this season.
Besides Howard, the Magic have had another player raise his game in 2007-08. Hedo Turkoglu has had an All-Star caliber season, averaging a career-best 19.5 points, including 22.2 in his past 12 games.
He’s averaging 22.0 points in three games against Detroit this season.
By: Marc Young – theSpread.com – Email Us
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