Detroit @ Orlando preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 28, 2017 ) Detroit 89, Orlando 102

The Detroit Pistons are sitting in the No. 9 spot in the Eastern Conference and need to start stringing wins together to get back into the race. The Pistons earned an impressive win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday and will try to make it two in a row when they open a three-game road trip by visiting the Orlando Magic on Friday.

Detroit hasn't won on the road since Jan. 10 at Brooklyn and is just 9-19 away from home, where it will play nine of the next 11. "We've got, what? Twenty-one games left?" Pistons small forward Stanley Johnson asked reporters after Wednesday's win. "And we're back what? Three games (entering play on Thursday)? We've got to get on it. There's no sugar coating that. Everyone in the gym knows it. We know it. Y'all know it. It's our job to do our job." The Pistons might have to work to avoid overlooking the Magic with a visit to No. 8 Miami coming up on Saturday. Orlando is in a race to the bottom in the East and saw its latest slide reach seven straight with a 117-104 home loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, FS Florida (Orlando)

ABOUT THE PISTONS (29-32): Detroit snapped a three-game slide with Wednesday's win and a big difference was the play of the second unit, led by Johnson. The 21-year-old moved from the starting lineup to the bench and delivered 19 points, six rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes. "Hey, one-game sample size," Johnson told reporters. "We don't know what's going to happen. The season brings you the game plan. The games come to you; you don't come to the games. So, you just try to play as hard as possible. That's the first thing. We played hard tonight, harder than the other team and that's where it starts. We have to continue that to be where we want to be at."

ABOUT THE MAGIC (18-43): Orlando allowed the Raptors to shoot 54.2 percent from the floor on Wednesday and is near the bottom in the NBA in field-goal percentage defense (.475). "We kind of lose the same way every night," Magic swingman Evan Fournier told reporters. "We start well, we're playing good, and in the third quarter or fourth or whatever we let them get on a run and we never recover from it. They get too comfortable and once the lead is up to seven or eight, the lead keeps growing and we're just never able to come back." The Magic are sitting in last place in the East, a half-game behind the Atlanta Hawks.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pistons PF Blake Griffin scored eight points on Wednesday -- his lowest total in 12 games since coming over from the Clippers.

2. Magic rookie PF Jonathan Isaac (ankle) is expected to make his return from a 26-game absence.

3. One of Detroit's many road losses came at Orlando 102-89 on Dec. 28.

PREDICTION: Pistons 115, Magic 109