Notes From Halftime of Game 2

I am pleasantly surprised that we trail by just three at halftime here in game 2. We held Detroit to 5-of-20 shooting in the second quarter. The fact that we're hanging around with virtually no production from Dwight Howard is surprising, even encouraging, because he should come out with a vengeance in the third quarter. I think the Pistons have gotten into his head a bit, but the officials certainly haven't helped either. It's cheap to pin a loss on the officials, but Dwight is getting hacked outright each time he touches the ball. Maybe Eddie Rush and co. believe that they're doing the Magic a favor by not sending Dwight to the foul line, but I digress.

Meanwhile, Hedo Turkoglu is en fuego - 15 points on a perfect 7-of-7 from the field. He would have 18 on 8-of-8 if he hadn't stepped out of bounds before shooting another three. I never thought I'd have to say this, but we need Hedo Turkoglu if we want to win.

Steve Kerr and Charles Barkley of TNT both seem to think the Pistons are just mailing it in, are in "cruise control" in Barkley's words, and will play hard when it counts, and I think there's some truth to that. But I don't think they've handed us this game, necessarily. They didn't shoot 5-of-20 in the second quarter because they were disinterested; they sure as hell looked like they were trying to me. I think we've done a good job of applying some pressure on the Pistons. Now, it becomes a matter of keeping the pressure up and executing the offense effectively.