The feeling about the ending wasn't almost as positive coming out of the Piston's locker room after the starters fell into a 21-point first quarter deficit only to see the reserves help pull them out by outscoring Orlando in the second, third and fourth quarters.
The Pistons fell behind by 21 points against the Orlando Magic, rallied to take a fourth-quarter lead, before the offense ground to a halt late in a 113-109 loss Wednesday night at Amway Center. The Pistons (37-44) trailed throughout the night and never led by more than two points. But Orlando made enough plays behind Payton and Gordon to avoid yet another disheartening loss as the season closed.
In game in which both teams played many of their reserves major minutes, the Pistons outscored Orlando in the second, third and fourth quarters but their 21-point first-quarter deficit proved hard to overcome. Evan Fournier had 12 points. Boban Marjanovic had 14 points and 11 rebounds. In fact, the Magic were never in this game after the first quarter where they were outscored by 34-13 so it'll be interesting to see how they come out in the season finale given they have nothing to play for but pride.
Ellenson had a putback off a missed free throw to pull the Pistons within one but Elfrid Payton took over in the final minutes. Tobias Harris led the team in scoring with 22 points off the bench, Ish Smith added 16 points with nine assists while Marcus Morris chipped in with 12 points. The Magic made 13 of 25 shots from 3-point range, including two of three from Hezonja.
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In a few days, we will not have digested completely but time helps us to find a solution. I know we earn a lot of money and have a privileged life but we are human beings.
"We had some resilience to come back, but we can't shoot".
Click the video above to watch the beginning of Stan Van Gundy's post-game news conference addressing just that. The Pistons missed their first six 3-point attempts of the first quarter and ended the quarter converting just one for nine from 3-point range.
Marjanovic scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Coach Frank Vogel, who led the Magic to a 29-53 record and their fifth straight last-place finish in the Southeast Division, is in the first year of a long-term contract and is expected to be retained.
The Orlando Magic have dismissed Rob Hennigan as general manager, CEO Alex Martins announced Thursday. All are career-highs for Payton.
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