He swooped through the lane to slam home missed shots.

He broke through walls of defenders to grab rebounds.

But he couldn't save his Orlando Magic team from slipping into a 2-0 hole in this best-of-seven series.

Howard did just about all he could in Game 2, bouncing back from a below-average performance in Game 1.

He finished with 22 points and 18 rebounds in nearly 45 minutes Monday and didn't make it through the first quarter with a soft splint on his bruised left thumb because it prevented him from getting a good grip on the ball.

"He made more shots, made more free throws, got on the offensive glass," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I thought we had periods in both the first and third quarters playing the way we wanted to play in terms of ball movement."

Before the game, Van Gundy spoke about getting Howard some more breathing room, a little more room to move when he didn't have the ball. The Pistons were effective in cutting off Howard's best angles to the basket in Game 1 and keeping the big man off his mark.

But the Magic found its answer in the second half of Game 2, when it used Howard more in pick-and-roll situations. Howard seldom got the ball on the roll, but since a lot of the screens he set were high, it allowed him to cut to the basket and claim his space in the paint, which he did by coming up with several key offensive rebounds and putbacks.

"I think the pick-and-roll game is something that we can use," Howard said. "It's very effective, and I think when everybody hits their shots from the outside, it leaves the paint wide open for me, and that's something that we've been doing all year, and we've been doing a good job of it."

Howard scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the second half, when, not coincidentally, the Magic's perimeter game started to come together, namely from behind the arc. He also sank two clutch free throws with 3:50 left in the fourth to make it a one-point game.

Howard grabbed six offensive rebounds in the fourth (eight total). His final field goal of the game, a tip-in with 1:03 left, cut the Pistons' lead to 94-93. But he didn't have a shot attempt the rest of the way.

Things didn't go as smoothly for Howard in the first half, when he committed four of his five turnovers as the Pistons were relentless in trying to deny him the ball.

"I thought we were in a little bit of a hurry, didn't let him get position, didn't make the right pass," Van Gundy said. "Early in the game, that was just a huge turnover play for us trying to get him the ball. I think we settled down and got it in there some. But 19 turnovers on the road in a tough game like this, it's going to make it very difficult to win."

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