National Basketball Association
Orlando 98, Detroit 92
When: 6:00 PM ET, Sunday, December 4, 2016
Where: The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan
Officials: #56 Mark Ayotte, #72 J.T. Orr, #23 Jason Phillips
Attendance: 15206

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- On his best outings, Serge Ibaka can provide a little bit of everything.

The Orlando Magic acquired the versatile Ibaka from Oklahoma City this summer because of his ability to impact both ends of the court. Ibaka had one of those nights on Sunday, piling up 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, four blocks and three steals, and the Magic ended a seven-game losing streak to the Detroit Pistons with a 98-92 victory at The Palace.

Ibaka's assist and steal totals were season highs.

"There's no question he's an elite big man. He's one of the best two-way bigs in the game," Magic coach Frank Vogel said. "There's no other way to put it. He's shooting the ball from the perimeter, he's scoring in the post and he's really trusting the pass. He's buying into the hot potato type of mindset, where the open man gets the shot every time. And he's a force on the defensive end."

Orlando has won three of its last four games following a four-game slide.

"I don't care about the stats," Ibaka said. "We've been looking for those wins for a long time now. That's the most important thing for me because I know when the team wins, everybody looks good."

Nikola Vucevic supplied 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Magic (9-12), who hadn't defeated Detroit since Nov. 17, 2014. Jeff Green added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists and D.J. Augustin contributed 12 points and three assists for Orlando, which shot 53.2 percent from the field.

"I'm excited about the win but we're still 9-12," Vogel said. "We've got some ground to make up but we were certainly feeling a lot differently a week ago."

Marcus Morris scored 16 of his team-high 21 points in the first half for the Pistons (11-11), who saw their three-game winning streak snapped.

"We were terrible defensively, I mean terrible," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. "Our offensive numbers are good enought to win (but) we just did not put enough into that game. They played harder than we did. They deserved to win, period."

Detroit point guard Reggie Jackson had 18 points and four assists in 23 minutes in his season debut. He had been sidelined since training camp with left knee tendinitis.

"We were a little down," Jackson said. "I really don't know what it is. We came out a little flat. We let them do everything that they wanted to do offensively."

Andre Drummond added his 14th double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Ish Smith and Tobias Harris tossed in 11 points apiece.

The Magic led by 11 in the opening minute of the second half after an Augustin 3-pointer. The Pistons reeled off the next nine points but couldn't pull even. When Ibaka made a jumper with 3:24 left in the quarter, Orlando was once again up 11 at 76-65.

Detroit scored the last six points in the quarter to make it 78-73.

Vucevic's jump hook with 9:11 left re-established a double-digit advantage at 86-76. Ibaka's 3-pointer midway through the quarter made it 90-80.

"I'm getting better every day," Ibaka said. "I'm working and working, and also my teammates trust me, as do the coaches, and that's one of the keys, too. They try to give me the ball early in the game, like tonight, and that's something that really gives me that confidence to play my game."

The Pistons, who trailed by as much as 13 in the quarter, cut their deficit to five on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's 3-pointer with 40 seconds left. Green's off-balance shot 20 seconds later sealed Orlando's win.

Ibaka had 16 points, five rebounds and three assists by halftime, lifting the Magic to a 58-50 lead.

NOTES: Pistons G Reggie Bullock will miss four-to-six weeks after undergoing surgery on Saturday to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee. ... The return of starting PG Reggie Jackson leaves Beno Udrih the odd man out in the Detroit rotation. Udrih was claimed off waivers from Miami just before the season opener. "He's played really, really well," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "He knew coming in exactly what the situation was. It wasn't anything that was hidden from him." ... The Magic entered the game ranked second-to-last in both points and field-goal percentage. ... Detroit C Andre Drummond made 47.4 percent of his free throws attempts through the first 21 games, an improvement over his historically low 35.5 percent foul shooting last season. "He doesn't look afraid to go to the foul line," Van Gundy said. ... Orlando C Arinze Onuaku was inactive.
Top Game Performances
 
Orlando   Detroit
Serge Ibaka 21 Scoring Marcus Morris 21
Bismack Biyombo 4 Assists Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 4
Nikola Vucevic 8 Rebounds Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 10
Evan Fournier 2 Free Throws Made Reggie Jackson 2
Evan Fournier 3 Steals Andre Drummond 3
Serge Ibaka 4 Blocks Andre Drummond 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Orlando 98 53.2 7-23 7-14 23 39 7 8 11
Detroit 92 44.2 10-27 6-13 16 44 3 8 13
Upcoming Games
  • Detroit will play their next game at home against Chicago. The Pistons have a W/L % of .545 after a win and .455 after a loss.
  • Orlando will play their next game on the road against Washington. The Magic have a W/L % of .444 after a win and .417 after a loss.