ORLANDO, Fla. _ One sequence late in Friday night's third quarter illustrated the controlled aggression the Orlando Magic played with against the Detroit Pistons.
Magic shooting guard Terrence Ross drove along the baseline and missed a reverse layup.
Elfrid Payton recognized that no one stood between himself and the hoop. So Payton smartly crashed the offensive board. Payton grabbed the rebound and scored on a put-back layup.
The play did not impact the outcome. But it reflected why the Magic dominated the Pistons so thoroughly. The Magic already led the Pistons by 26 points when Ross attempted his shot, and yet Payton still hustled to the hoop.
Payton and his Magic teammates weren't satisfied with just a win. They sought a decisive win. In their best performance all season, they crushed the Pistons, 115-87, at Amway Center.
Most encouraging for the Magic: They showed fight from tipoff to the final buzzer. Even in the third quarter, after they already had staked themselves to a 30-point lead, their largest lead of the season to that point, Magic players such as Mario Hezonja and Payton were arguing with referees about questionable out-of-bounds calls, displaying a competitiveness their team has lacked much too often this season.
Payton epitomized that tenacity. He recorded his fourth triple-double of the season, scoring 14 points, collecting 11 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists.
Every other Orlando starter _ Ross, Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic _ scored between 15 and 18 points.
Hezonja came off the bench and continued to play power forward as Jeff Green sat out again with back spasms, and Hezonja played one of his most complete games of the season. In addition to playing strong defense, even though the Pistons went after him at every opportunity, Hezonja scored six points, collected four rebounds and dished out a season-best six assists.
Jodie Meeks, a former Piston, added 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
The Magic made extra passes and passed up OK shots for good shots and passed up good shots for great shots. And they recorded 36 assists on their 47 baskets _ tying a season high for assists in a game.
Orlando jumped out to a 57-39 halftime lead.
The Magic recorded 22 assists on its 25 first-half baskets _ the Magic's highest assist total for any half this season.
But the Magic did something else: They showed some grit.
Orlando players corralled loose basketballs. They cut to the basket with purpose on offense. And they played energetic defense.
Detroit sank only 30.8 percent of its shot attempts in the first half.
The Magic offense clicked in the second quarter, making 15 of its 24 attempts.
The Pistons (34-39) needed to win Friday's game.
They began Friday trailing the eighth-place Miami Heat by one game in the Eastern Conference standings.
But the Pistons are in freefall now. They have lost six of their last seven games.
The Magic (27-46) outclassed them Friday.
Orlando built a 33-point lead late in the fourth quarter _ their largest lead at any point this season.
Their margin of victory, 28 points, was their largest margin of victory all season by nine points.
The Magic are out of playoff contention, but coach Frank Vogel has said his team needs to spend the final weeks of the season building "winning habits."
Friday was a good start.
They made 51.6 percent of their shots and limited the Pistons to 35.4 percent shooting.
Best of all, they kept up the pressure once they had the Pistons on their heels.
This season has been one of the most disappointing seasons in the Magic's recent history.
On Friday, though, they at least provided one of their best performances of the season.
