Orlando Magic @ Detroit Pistons

Per the Orlando Sentinel, Vince Carter is in fact going to start tonight.

“He’s going to tonight,” Coach Stan VanGundy said. “For how long, we don’t know. You never know.”

Carter is actually going to start at SF while J.J. Redick starts at SG again.

Detroit Small Forward Tayshaun Prince will be inactive for the Pistons.

The team just announced that small forward Tayshaun Prince will miss tonight’s game against the Orlando Magic because of a lower back strain, ending his consecutive-start streak at 439 games.

The last time Prince didn’t play in a game was his rookie season. The last time he failed to start was his second year in the league.

Rookie Jonas Jerebko will start in his place tonight, according to guard Rodney Stuckey.

Click here to see the story on Prince from the Detroit Free Press.

Starters

Orlando

Dwight Howard
Ryan Anderson
Vince Carter
J.J. Redick
Jameer Nelson

Detroit

Ben Wallace
Charlie Villanueva
Jonas Jerebko
Ben Gordon
Rodney Stuckey

You can see my game preview here.

End of 1st Quarter: Pistons lead the Magic 19-14.

• What is it about those Detroit uniforms that makes the Magic play so bad?
• Orlando started 2-of-9 and are just 7-of-21 in the quarter (0-of-6 from downtown).
• Luckily, Detroit is just 7-of-19 from the field, but they’re 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Orlando is 0-of-2.
• The Magic have had very poor shot selection, but have had some open looks and failed to knock them down.
• Vince Carter is just 3-of-9 and has taken some ill-advised shots.
• Rodney Stuckey is tearing up the Magic – he has 10 of Detroit’s 19 points.
• Marcin Gortat played pretty well, hitting a shot and grabbing 2 boards. He has been forced into action because Dwight Howard has 2 fouls.

Halftime: Magic lead 41-38

• Orlando shot the ball much better. They were 11-of-22 from the field and 5-of-12 from downtown.
• Marcin Gortat and Dwight Howard each picked up their third foul early in the quarter, forcing Head Coach Stan Van Gundy to use Brandon Bass at Center. Bass has 4 points and 3 rebounds.
• Vince Carter also has 3 fouls.
• Detroit is out-rebounding the Magic 23-21.
• Jason Williams and J.J. Redick each hit two key 3-pointers in the quarter.
• Ryan Anderson has missed some open looks from downtown.
• Rodney Stuckey leads all scorers with 15 points.
• Jameer Nelson leads the Magic with 7 points and 3 assists.
• The Magic are 0-of-2 from the free throw line, while Detroit is 12-of-17 from the line. Detroit has done a much better job of getting into the paint, attacking the basket and drawing fouls.

End of 3rd Quarter: Magic, Pistons Tied at 60

• This is one ugly game.
• Dwight Howard was thrown down by Rodney Stuckey and went back to the locker room to have his right shoulder looked at. He returned soon after and picked up his fourth foul.
• Vince Carter hit three 3-pointers in the period but needs to get to the basket more.
• J.J. Redick picked up a technical on a controversial foul he was called for on Ben Gordon. He followed it up, by putting the ball on the floor and making a jumper and then drawing a foul on a 3-point attempt.
• Twice the Magic went up six points. Detroit answered with an 8-0 run and then a 9-0 run.

Final: Pistons win 85-80.

• A full recap and analysis are still to come.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)