The Orlando Magic played well early and took a 25-10 lead, but the Detroit Pistons fought back by getting close looks at the basket and outrebounding the Magic. The Magic struggled on offense but played good defense in the second half and closed out the Pistons for their third consecutive win. J.J. Redick led the Magic with 17 points while Dwight Howard had 16 points and 15 rebounds. Rodney Stuckey had 18 points to lead the Pistons.

Due to Orlando’s win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday evening, Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy will be the Head Coach of the Eastern Conference All-Star team two weeks from today. Here is the official word from the Orlando Magic.

STAN VAN GUNDY TO SERVE AS HEAD COACH FOR EASTERN CONFERENCE AT 2010 NBA ALL-STAR GAME
Second time Van Gundy as earned All-Star coaching honor
Orlando, FL – Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy will serve as coach for the Eastern Conference at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 14 at Cowboys Stadium [...]

Magic Point Guard Jameer Nelson checked out at the 1:36 mark in the first period and went to the locker room. He was later diagnosed with a hyperextended left knee. It is the same knee that he had surgically repaired in November. Nelson’s return to the game is listed as questionable. Anthony Johnson checked in during the second quarter, replacing Jason Williams.
Update: Tania Ganguli has an update on Nelson from her twitter account.
Nelson came down on the knee wrong. Otis smith doesn’t expect nelson to miss any games but called him day to day.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead [...]

The Orlando Magic look to win their third straight game and for the sixth time in seven games when they take on their nemesis, the Detroit Pistons on Sunday evening. As Magic fans know, the Pistons have had their way with the Magic in the past and that looked like it was going to continue this season when the Pistons beat Orlando 85-80 back on November 3rd, but Orlando bounced back just three days when they defeated the Pistons 110-103.
Orlando improved to 31-16 with a win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night and regained the lead in the Southeast [...]

The Magic played the Hawks for the third time this season and for the third time this season they came away with a decisive victory. Orlando blew the game open in the second half and beat the Hawks 104-86, taking back the Southeast division lead in the process. Dwight Howard had a monster game – 31 points, 19 rebounds and three blocks. Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 19 points.
A sick Stan Van Gundy was pleased with the win.
“I thought other than the first few minutes of the game, obviously, we were pretty good and I thought the second half [...]

Orlando got arguably their biggest win of the season when they came back from a 16-point third quarter deficit to defeat the Boston Celtics 96-94 on Thursday night. That is quite the feat but it won’t intimidate Orlando’s opponent Saturday night – the Atlanta Hawks, who beat Boston 100-91 Friday night and completed a season sweep of the Celtics. The Hawks match up very well with the Celtics but the same cannot be said about the way they match up with the Magic. Orlando beat Atlanta 93-76 on Thanksgiving in Atlanta and blew out the Hawks 113-81 exactly three weeks ago. The [...]

The Orlando Magic will play host to the Atlanta Hawks Saturday night. Click here to read more about that game.
You can find more about the Hawks here.
It looks like the Orlando Magic have found their enforcer.
“I like it,” Howard said. “I like the fact that we don’t back down. Matt Barnes showed that he wasn’t going to back down. That’s what we’ve gotta have. We’ve got to have a team that’s not going to back down from any challenge, and we did that.”
Click here to read more about Barnes and see video of him standing up to Paul Pierce.

(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.)

The Orlando Magic defeated the Boston Cetlics 96-94 on Thursday night. Click here to find out what the Magic had to say about the win.

The Orlando Magic got perhaps their biggest win of the season. You can see the recap here and watch Rashard Lewis’ game-winning shot here.
The Magic were understandably happy after the game and here is what I heard from the team after the game.