The Orlando Magic turned the TD Waterhouse Centre into a crime-free zone Friday night.

When the Detroit Pistons hit 54.3 percent of their shots last month in beating the Magic, coach Doc Rivers called it "a crime." But they wound up handcuffing the Pistons, and Jerry Stackhouse in particular, this time as they snapped a three-game losing streak with an 87-78 victory.

Darrell Armstrong led the Magic with 21 points, including two key 3-point baskets during the fourth quarter, while Tracy McGrady overcame a rough start to finish with 20. However, Mike Miller was arguably the star of the game as he turned his attention from offense to defense by harassing Stackhouse into a 3-of-15 shooting performance.

"I thought he (Miller) was hanging his head," Rivers said. "He was losing his confidence, and he decided, Well, I'm not scoring, so I'm going to play defense.' And he guarded the heck out of Jerry Stackhouse."

"All three of us have got to come with it every night," Armstrong said. "And then somebody else has got to step in to help us."

The Magic (14-17) held the Pistons to 35.8 percent shooting in sending them to their seventh consecutive loss. The Pistons (14-13) have also dropped seven in a row on the road, where they haven't won since Dec. 1.

"The key to the game for us defensively was we didn't have to trap one time the entire night," Rivers said. "We didn't have to trap on Corliss Williamson. We didn't have to trap on Cliff Robinson. We didn't have to help on Jerry Stackhouse. So it was very difficult for their shooters to get open shots."

It was just as tough for McGrady to get going. He didn't score until almost halfway through the second quarter on a pair of free throws.

While he was out of the game during the final 5:12 of the first quarter, the Magic went on a 12-0 run -- with Armstrong accounting for eight of those points -- to take a 20-11 lead. They extended that advantage to as many as 18 points in the second quarter, and the 30 points the Pistons had at halftime were the fewest a Magic opponent has scored in the first half all season.

McGrady, who added eight rebounds and six assists before fouling out in the final minute, admitted he was "a little frustrated with everything that was going on in the game, guys coming down on my back trying to hurt me. But for the most part, I felt pretty good and pretty confident that we were going to win."

The Pistons missed 29 of their first 38 shots and mustered only seven points during a stretch of more than 13 minutes. But they trailed only 64-60 after Dana Barros hit a 3-pointer less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

"They made a nice little run on us," Armstrong said. "But the guys stayed in there, and we kept fighting and we kept getting loose balls instead of them getting loose balls. Those are the little things that help you win."

Despite being held below 100 points for the sixth game in a row, the Magic got a much-needed win before a road trip which will take them to New York, Boston and New Jersey next week. Patrick Ewing, who will undoubtedly be under close scrutiny Sunday night against the Knicks, had the best game of any Magic reserve with 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

With Stackhouse unable to shake free of Miller, former Magic forward Ben Wallace ended up leading the Pistons with a season-high 16 points to go with 13 rebounds. Chucky Atkins started ahead of Barros at point guard and had 13 points and four assists.

Wallace was the only Piston to make at least half of his shots, and all of them were either dunks or layups.

"When you lose games, you lose your confidence," Rivers said. "That's just how it is."

After being outrebounded 51-35 Wednesday night in a loss to the Indiana Pacers, the Magic finished with a 49-42 edge on the boards. They also had 22 assists, compared to 17 for the Pistons. The Magic's record is 14-0 in games where they've had more or the same number of assists as their opponents and 0-17 in games they haven't.

PLAYING IN PAIN

Despite admitting he is "still not 100 percent," Tracy McGrady made his second start in a row Friday night for the Orlando Magic after sitting out three games with a strained lower back.

"If I can tolerate the pain in my back, then I'm going to play," he said before the Magic took on the Detroit Pistons at the TD Waterhouse Centre. "There's nothing really to keep me out."

Asked if he was risking a severe injury by returning so soon, the 22-year-old McGrady replied with a laugh, "I'll probably be out of the game when I'm about 30."

While McGrady was coming off a 31-point performance Wednesday night, Darrell Armstrong has gone cold lately after experiencing his own back pain. Armstrong went 8-of-34 overall and 5-of-20 from 3-point range in the Magic's losses to Washington, Dallas and Indiana.

"We're going to struggle if Darrell and Mike (Miller) don't reach double figures," said Pat Garrity, who endured a 4-of-21 slump against the Wizards and the Mavericks. "That's just going to be a fact of life."

STILL NO REUNION

For the sixth time in as many regular-season meetings between the Magic and the Pistons since Grant Hill left Detroit, there was no duel between Hill and Jerry Stackhouse.

While Hill was playing 31 minutes Nov. 26 against his former team before taking himself out of the game in the fourth quarter, Stackhouse was not in uniform because of a strained groin. The Pistons won that game 105-100, and Hill -- who occasionally clashed with Stackhouse during their 2 seasons together -- underwent his third major surgery in less than two years on his left ankle 23 days later.

Stackhouse was the Pistons' leading scorer in each of their six consecutive losses going into the game. He averaged 23.2 points over that stretch for the Pistons.

CHUCKY'S ON FIRE

Chucky Atkins, the former Magic guard who shot less than 40 percent from the floor during his first season as a Piston, has bounced back with a vengeance.

Atkins began the game having hit 50.8 percent of his field-goal attempts this season and sporting an 11.3-point average. Of the 16 players in the NBA to make more than half of their shots and have enough attempts to qualify among the leaders in that category, Atkins and Minnesota's Wally Szczerbiak are the only guards.

Atkins also has a 3-to-1 ratio of assists to turnovers. Dana Barros, who started ahead of him in 20 of the Pistons' first 26 games, has a smaller ratio with fewer assists.