DETROIT -- With Wednesday's game tied at the half and the Orlando Magic hanging around, Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff lit into his team to try to ignite the Pistons.
"He really got on us in the locker room," Pistons forward Tobias Harris said. "[His message was] there is no more of 'my bads.' It's like they're out there hustling, getting offensive boards on us. And there's too many of them for us [to allow] as a group. We know that's not our standard.
"So he was on us. We were able to find that little spark."
After hearing it from their coach, the Pistons delivered an emphatic reminder that they are the East's best team. Detroit hit Orlando with a 30-3 third-quarter avalanche to win 98-83 in Game 2 and even the first-round series at 1-1.
The Pistons' sellout crowd -- which included some of the franchise's biggest legends, such as Isiah Thomas -- savored the team's first home playoff win since May, 26, 2008, when the Pistons beat the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Pistons' 11-game playoff losing streak at home was the longest in NBA history.
Detroit set an early tone that this game would be different than Game 1 when Orlando led from start to finish. The Pistons swatted seven shots in the first quarter alone and finished with 11 blocks Wednesday. There were several blocks at the rim as both teams went at each other.
"It's Piston's basketball, and that's what it looks like," Bickerstaff said. "We have one off night [in Game 1 that happened] to come at a bad time. But I know what our guys are, and we trusted that they were going to come back tonight, be the best version of themselves at some point."
That version emerged in the third quarter. Detroit was everywhere, turning up the defense and smothering Orlando into missing nine of 10 shots and turning the ball over six times during that 30-3 run.
On offense, the Pistons made 11 of their first 15 shots of the quarter, including dunking three times to get the crowd amped up. By the time it was over, Orlando trailed 76-49 with 4:34 to go.
The Magic were 6-of-34 (18%) on contested shots in Game 2, compared with 21-of-45 (47%) in Game 1. That 18% is the lowest field goal percentage on contested shots in the playoffs since ESPN began tracking (2013-14).
"They met us at the rim a few times," said Orlando forward Paolo Banchero, who finished with 18 points, eight assists and six rebounds. "And they brought the intensity on defense. But we got good looks, and nobody really had a great night shooting the ball."
Orlando's 83 points are the fewest Detroit has allowed in a playoff game since surrendering 79 to the Cavaliers in Game 3 of the first round on April 24, 2009.
"That's us," said Detroit center Isaiah Stewart, who had 10 points and two blocks. "That's what we were talking about. If we just be who we are, who we've been all season long, we'd be just fine."
The Pistons' Cade Cunningham has shined in this series so far. He had 27 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in the win, following a 39-point performance in Game 1.
Still, even after the third-quarter dominance by Detroit, the Magic starters kept playing hard in the fourth. They had a total of six blocks and held Detroit to 6-of-26 shooting from 3 in Game 2.
The series shifts to Orlando for Game 3 on Saturday.
"We're not backing down," Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. "It's not who we are. Especially in a series like this, in a game like this, with an opponent like this; we're not backing down. They threw everything that they had in that moment -- the aggression, the physicality, all the plays in the game -- that's part of it.
"We knew that was coming. We embrace it. When we go to Orlando, we got to just make sure we exceed it."