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By null, Times Staff WriterMAGIC 100, PISTONS 92: The guard scores 27 to lead the No.8 seed to a 3-1 series lead.
ORLANDO - Greatness in the NBA isn't measured by shoe endorsements or clothing lines or even scoring titles. It is measured in the postseason.
No one knows that better than Tracy McGrady. He has given Orlando three good seasons. But not great ones. Seasons that end in the first round never are.
Only now is the 23-year-old MVP candidate on the verge of greatness - and his first Eastern Conference semifinal.
His Magic pushed the top-seeded Pistons to the brink of elimination Sunday, winning Game 4 100-92. Orlando took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series at the sold-out TD Waterhouse Centre in front of 17,283, fans who haven't seen the franchise win a series since 1996.
"Being bounced out of the first round for three consecutive years kind of left a bad taste in me," McGrady said. "Being in the playoffs, that's when you really make a name for yourself.
"I'm just trying to get this franchise back on track like it was when I was a young fella watching Shaq and Penny here. Watching (Minnesota's) Kevin Garnett over the last couple of playoff series, what he's been through, being bounced out, I know how tough it is and how frustrating it is on his part.
"Because you feel like you did everything you could on your part to advance and you failed."
McGrady has brought the excitement of the Shaquille O'Neal-Penny Hardaway era back by doing less, not more. Unlike the first two games, when McGrady totaled 89 points and Orlando went 1-1, now he's bringing his teammates along for the ride.
In consecutive games the same four Magic players have finished in double figures: McGrady (27 Sunday), rookie Drew Gooden (20), reserve Darrell Armstrong (18) and rookie Gordan Giricek (10).
McGrady had nine assists, a career playoff best, dictating the pace by setting up his teammates' offense. Is that a product of new maturity or confidence in his teammates?
"It's a little bit of both," said McGrady, averaging a league-best 36.3 points in the postseason. "The first two games I tried to go out and do a lot on my own. The first game it worked for us, the second it didn't. The last two I've just really tried to get my teammates involved and give them some confidence."
Orlando's defense also has outplayed Detroit's, which led the regular season in scoring defense. The Magic held the Pistons to 42.9 percent from the floor in the second half. Chauncey Billups scored 16 to give Detroit a 29-19 first-quarter lead. He finished with 25, going 6-of-20 from the field and 3-of-8 from 3-point range. Richard Hamilton scored five and was 2-for-11.
Pistons coach Rick Carlisle said his team must "remedy that."
"Tonight (the Magic) scored 35 points in the second quarter," he said, "and that's unheard of against us."
Orlando didn't let its first-quarter deficit stand long, answering with an 11-point run in the second. Shawn Kemp started the run with back-to-back baskets, then Pat Garrity, hobbled by a strained hip and 0-for-7 through the series, hit a 3-pointer. McGrady finished it with a three-point play as the Magic went up 30-29 with 9:09 left in the first half.
McGrady ended the seesaw fight for the lead, hitting a falling down 18-foot turnaround jumper to tie at 65 with 4:25 left. The Magic was relentless, taking a 14-point lead into the fourth. Chris Whitney's 23-foot jumper made the lead 16, and Armstrong set up an Andrew DeClercq dunk for a 19-point lead, the Magic's biggest of the series.
With 6:12 left and one second on the shot clock, Armstrong took the inbounds pass, flinged it in midair at the basket, and drained the 18-footer.
"That's when you think things are aligned our way," Magic coach Doc Rivers said. "I'd rather be good, but lucky ain't bad."