Same Time Next Year

Last year, Detroit took out Orlando in 4 games en route to their sudden and dramatic collapse against the LeBron Cavs. This year's Magic team is a lot better, with another year of experience for Dwight Howard, the addition of Rashard Lewis, and the breakout of Hedo Turkoglu. And the Pistons still don't care, and still look like the machine that turned the Sixers into pulp for the last 10 quarters of that series.

OK, a 19-point win for the home team sound like the exact same plotline as the late game. But the ease in which the Pistons ran away with this, and the damage that Jason Maxiell did to the Magic bigs, was striking. (Along with the Finally! moment of the Magic getting handled at the guard position, where Hamilton and Billups gave the home team a 25-point boost.)

Lastly, the elephant in the room: Howard hurt his hand in the game, but I suspect it won't really be an issue, or enough of one to make Game 2 go differently than Game 1. The Pistons look fully engaged, and a fully engaged Pistons team can play at the highest level in the conference.