In other words...DEAL WITH IT ORLANDO!

That's the message from Joel Litvin, NBA President of League and Basketball Operations, in reference to the 'inadvertent' clock stoppage near the end of the third quarter of game two. Litvin goes on to say, "We determined that the play that concluded with Chauncey Billups' three-point field goal took approximately 5.7 seconds. Because there were only 5.1 seconds remaining in the quarter when the play began, the shot would not have counted had the clock continued to run."

Tell us something we don't know, Joel!

Sure, the more I think about the play, the more maddening it becomes.

Was the clock gaffe a factor in the Game Two 100-93 loss? Yes.

Was it the determining factor? No.

Sure, the Pistons gained a head of steam from that Billups' home run, but the cold hard fact is that the Orlando Magic did not make plays when they needed to!

All season long, this Magic team has been poised and polished in the fourth quarter. Such was not the case on Monday night in Auburn Hills.

Rashard Lewis, who came alive with eight points in the third quarter, had a forgetful fourth. Over the final 3:05, Rashard would miss his final four shots. Rashard also had a huge turnover with just over a minute to play and the Magic down just two. Rashard finished the game just 6-21 from the field with six turnovers.

Hedo Turkoglu also turned it over six times. Turk was shut out in the final period of game two. To add insult to insult, Hedo curiously heaved an ill-advised three point bomb at the :42 mark that would clank off glass and end all hope of a come back.

It's ironic that Turk and Hedo, the two guys who have been so great all season in clutch situations, were the two guys just couldn't come through for us late in the fourth quarter of game two.

Magic fans, as we head toward game three, we can lash out at the refs, the clock operator and even David Stern, but the bottom line is that we just didn't make the plays necessary to win a playoff game against a great team on the road.

Hopefully, we, and the NBA, learned valuable lessons.