Pistons "D" too much for Howard, Magic

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 semifinals.

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 on 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. We just wish we could do that more often."

Tayshaun Prince scored 17 for Detroit, including an 11-foot runner for the go-ahead basket with 8.9 seconds left. Antonio McDyess added eight points and 14 boards.

The Pistons controlled the tempo in the second half after falling behind by 15 in the third quarter, deflated the Magic transition game that gassed up its Game 3 win and pounded Dwight Howard in the paint.

Cleveland 108, Boston 84

CLEVELAND — The shots didn't drop again for LeBron James, and it hardly mattered. The rest of the Cavaliers made most of theirs.

James scored 21 points on another off-shooting night, but Delonte West scored 21, Joe Smith had 17 and the Cavaliers raced to a large, early lead in Game 3 in a 108-84 victory Saturday night over the road-challenged Boston Celtics to pull within 2-1 in their playoff series.

West carried the scoring load for the Cavaliers, who are attempting to become the 14th team in NBA history to come back from 0-2 and win a best-of-seven series.

James was only 5 of 16 from the floor, but his teammates stepped it up, going a combined 32 of 54 (59 percent) to tighten the second-round series. Cleveland roared to a 32-13 lead after one quarter, led by 17 at half, 16 after three and easily withstood a few Boston counterpunches.

Kevin Garnett scored 17 points, Paul Pierce 14 and Ray Allen 10 as Boston's Big 3 of superstars combined for 41 points.