Los Angeles - A duel down the stretch between Richard Hamilton and Hedo Turkoglu was settled by Tayshaun Prince. Prince threw in a running hook with 8.9 seconds left Saturday to give the shorthanded Detroit Pistons a 90-89 victory over the Orlando Magic and a commanding 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Hamilton scored 10 of his 32 points in the last eight minutes for the second-seeded Pistons, who won without injured All-Star point guard Chauncey Biillups and can reach the conference finals for the sixth straight year with a win at home Tuesday.
"There were a lot of times in that game where we could have said, 'It's not gonna be our night. We'll wait 'til we get home,'" Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "But our guys grinded it out."
Turkoglu scored 11 of his 20 points in the final four minutes but missed the game's last shot for the Magic, who squandered a 15-point third-quarter lead, then rallied from seven points down in the fourth quarter.
A bank shot by Rasheed Wallace gave the Pistons an 82-75 lead with 5:17 left, but Orlando's Rashard Lewis answered with a basket before Turkoglu took over. The native of Turkey had a three-point play and two 3-pointers before his driving layup gave the Magic an 88-86 lead with 1:14 remaining.
Hamilton had two free throws and a jumper before making two more from the line that pulled Detroit into an 88-88 tie with 59 seconds to go. Jameer Nelson's free throw gave Orlando a one-point lead 15 seconds later.
"(Turkoglu) really took over the game," Prince said. "But Rip (Hamilton) carried us there in the last four minutes being aggressive and getting to the foul line."
Wallace missed a jumper, but Antonio McDyess grabbed the last of his 14 rebounds, allowing Detroit to keep possession. The Pistons did not call timeout and Wallace set a pick for Prince, who drove right to left into the lane and lofted a hook over Dwight Howard.
"We swung the ball," Prince said. "I got a pick-and-roll and was able to get a floater."
Turkoglu had a chance to win it. But he dribbled away precious seconds and ran into Jason Maxiell on a drive, badly missing a flip shot before time ran out.
"I didn't want to rush and force a bad shot," Turkoglu said. "Maybe I was holding it too long instead of going right away. I'm just upset that I couldn't help the team."
"I knew it was going to Hedo, but I thought it was going to be a pick-and-roll with Dwight Howard," Prince said. "He didn't go quick, right away."
Billups strained his hamstring early in Detroit's Game 3 loss and was inactive for this one. Rookie Rodney Stuckey, who scored 19 points in Game 3, started for Billups but was hampered by foul trouble.
The Pistons did a solid job on Howard, holding the All-Star centre to a playoff career-low eight points overall and no baskets after the first quarter. But they struggled on offense and trailed, 63-48, early in the third period.
Veteran Lindsey Hunter came on for Stuckey and sparked an 18-2 run with two 3-pointers as Detroit grabbed a 66-65 lead with 2:10 left in the quarter. Inactive for the first three games of the series, Hunter had eight points and three assists.
"He hadn't played a lot down the stretch here, but he's worked to always be ready, and the big thing he did is he gave us great defensive pressure," Saunders said.
Prince had 17 points and five assists and Wallace added 16 and eight rebounds for Detroit, which made 14-of-15 free throws and became the first team to win on the road in the conference semifinals.
"These guys have been in a lot of these situations," Saunders said. "We never really panicked."
Nelson, Lewis and Maurice Evans scored 15 points apiece and Howard swept 12 boards for the Magic, which made 10-of-18 3-pointers but just 11-of-17 free throws.
Cleveland 108, Boston 84=
Back home, Cleveland rediscovered its offense, which had averaged just 72.5 points in a pair of losses in Boston, and got back into its East semifinal series with a rousing Game 3 win.
Superstar LeBron James scored 21 points to pace five Cavaliers in double figures and added eight assists. James shot just 8-of-42 with 17 turnovers in Boston.
Fourth-seeded Cleveland held double-digit lead from the five-minute mark of the first quarter. It held a 32-13 advantage after one period, led by as many as 26 points in the second quarter and no less than 12 thereafter.
The Cavaliers got a huge boost from the quartet of players in acquired in a three-team trade during the season. Delonte West scored 21 points, Joe Smith added 17, Wally Szczerbiak 16 and Ben Wallace - who was questionable with an inner ear infection - had nine and nine rebounds.
Kevin Garnett had 17 points and nine rebounds and Paul Pierce scored 14 points for the top-seeded Celtics, who shot just 40.5 percent (30-of-74) and fell to 0-4 on the road in the postseason. Boston did not lose more than three in a row on the road during the season.
Game 4 is Monday in Cleveland.
