The hotel the Pistons stay at in Orlando is approximately one mile down the road from the office building Friday in which one person was shot and five wounded in a horrific shooting.
A large portion of downtown Orlando was locked down as police sought Jason Rodriguez, who was eventually caught at his mother's home. "I was aware of it," said coach John Kuester, as was the majority of the team after seeing a slew of police cars and fire trucks race to the scene. "It's sad. You hate to see anything like that occurring anywhere in the country, It's one of those things, when it's close to where you're staying, it kind of hits home."
Several players said they heard numerous police sirens after coming back from the morning shoot-around. Kuester said the normal pre-game routine wasn't affected too much.
"Not really," Kuester said. "But our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who were affected (Friday) in Orlando."
MAGIC, 110, PISTONS 103: Big quarters, usually in the first half, continue to do in the Pistons. This time it was Orlando scoring 40 points in the first quarter, taking a 40-23 lead. The Pistons came back, cutting the lead to six points in the fourth quarter, but couldn't get closer.
Charlie Villanueva singlehandedly brought the Pistons back, scoring 28 points, 22 of them in the fourth quarter. Rodney Stuckey scored 20 and Ben Gordon 19. Dwight Howard led Orlando with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
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