ORLANDO, Fla. — There is a reason the Detroit Pistons have been to five consecutive Eastern Conference finals. They proved it 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 to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
“I’m just upset that I couldn’t help the team,” Turkoglu said of the final sequence.
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 this series returns to Detroit on Tuesday.
All of it happened with Chauncey Billups watching from 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.”
