Pistons 100, Magic 93 | Clock mistake helps Detroit to win

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Time literally stopped Monday when Detroit Pistons guard Chauncey Billups hit a momentum-turning three-pointer at the end of the third quarter of what would become a 100-93 win over the Orlando Magic.

The Magic will now limp back home today buried in a two-games-to-none hole in the Eastern Conference second-round playoff series.

At the end of the third quarter, the game clock malfunctioned twice during the play when Billups' three-pointer would put Detroit up 78-76. The clock started and stopped incorrectly, going from 5.1 seconds to 4.8 seconds and then finally stopping at 4.1 seconds.

The three officials met at midcourt for almost two minutes, eventually ruling that the shot would have gotten off before the buzzer. However, a TNT replay later showed that the play, in which there were three passes between Billups and Rodney Stuckey, actually took 5.23 seconds.

Officials were not allowed to review the play because they can only go to the monitors on end-of-half and end-of-game shots and flagrant foul calls.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said the team had no recourse for fighting the clock malfunction other than to complain to the league office. He said filing an official protest would likely do the Magic no good.

"I'll go back and look it up in the rule book," Van Gundy said. "But it's a judgment call by the referees and there's nothing they can do to overturn those kinds of plays."

The series shifts back to Orlando for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon. The Magic did retake the lead by as many as four points in the fourth quarter, but were doomed by too many turnovers and poor shot selection down the stretch. They did have two chances to tie the game in the final minute, but Hedo Turkoglu missed badly on an ill-advised three-pointer with 43 seconds to play and Rashard Lewis misfired on a driving layup with 12 seconds remaining.

Dwight Howard had 22 points and 18 rebounds for the Magic. Jameer Nelson scored 22 points and hit five threes, but he fouled out with 1:23 to play. Lewis had 20 points, but missed 15 of 21 shots.

Billups had 28 points and made all 10 of his free throws for the Pistons. Tayshaun Prince had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Rasheed Wallace added 17 points.