For the second game in a row, the Magic held a lead at halftime, limited its opponent to a low shooting percentage from distance in the first two quarters and were on their way to a victory inside Kia Center.

And yet, for the second game in a row, Orlando saw its lead disappear after the break, turnovers pile up and their opponent go on a long run to hand Jamahl Mosley‘s squad back-to-back home losses.

On Thursday it was against the Rockets and on Sunday, the Pistons.

Just as Houston outscored Orlando 70-55 in the second half, Detroit did an even better job defensively to hold a 56-35 advantage across the final two frames.

And where the Rockets used a 21-0 run in the third quarter of Thursday’s game, the Pistons went on an 11-0 run in the third frame and followed it up with a knockout punch 14-2 run in the fourth Sunday.

“Teams, a lot of times, adjust at halftime and I think that’s why we struggled a lot in the second half just cause we don’t really adjust to their adjustments,” Magic forward Paolo Banchero said after the 106-92 loss to Detroit. “So, that’s when we need to see how they’re playing us and we just need to clearly communicate to each other what it is that we need to do, particularly offensively, to fight those runs and continue to play good basketball.”

That breakdown in communication led to Orlando’s offense stalling out and Detroit getting easy baskets on the other end.

After scoring 10 points off nine takeaways in the first half, the Pistons totaled 16 points off 10 Orlando turnovers in the second half alone.

And Banchero was responsible for nine of the team’s total 19 turnovers.

“I only took 10 shots, so I think I could have been a lot more aggressive, could have looked to score a lot more,” he said. “I did a great job of getting downhill in the first half and second half, our offense just got stagnant.

“Having nine turnovers, it just wasn’t a good enough effort by me,” he added.

Those turnovers helped Detroit get out in transition and total 66 points in the paint, which was above their already league-leading average of 57.8 points in the paint.

While the Pistons shot 33-for-52 in the paint (63.5%), Orlando finished 16-for-34 (47%) in that area of the court.

Although Detroit blocked six shots, scoring around the basket hasn’t been as easy for the Magic as they would like this season.

After Sunday, the Magic ranked 26th in paint non-restricted area field-goal percentage (41.1%). When 44.8% of their nightly points come in the paint, that low success rate near the rim takes a toll when the team also can’t hit accurately from distance.

Orlando shot 10 for 36 from 3-point range (27.8%) against the Pistons, who were able to meet Magic players driving into the paint with multiple defenders.

“They had somebody there all the time,” Mosley said about Detroit. “Their low man was present each time we attacked the basket. You stop the film, you pause it anytime they’ve got three or four guys around you. Now, we did have some wide-open sprays, some wide-open looks that, they just didn’t go down at the right moment. When those long shots go up and there’s a long rebound, they were off to the races.

“So, again, we do have to do a better job of getting downhill, knowing how much of a crowd is there, and being able to pass it out and keep trusting that pass,” he added. “But when you get down there and you can finish, you have to finish.”

It didn’t help that, in addition to missing Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain injury management), the Magic were also without Anthony Black because of a right quad bruise — something that been bothering him for quite some time, Mosley said pre-game.

“Usually it’s something I feel like I could play through,” Black said about the injury before he missed his first game of the season. “I’ve been playing through stuff like this pretty much all year but I think just the factor of, it really started with my left knee and then just taking a hit on the right side. I already felt like I wasn’t 100% on the left side.

“I feel like if I do that with both legs then I’ll be letting the team down, honestly, just not being able to give a full, 100% go,” he added. “That’s what led me to come up with not playing.”

Orlando will have a chance to bounce back this week against two lowly squads, first against the 16-win Wizards on Tuesday and then the 21-win Mavericks on Thursday.

While the Magic (31-28) will take every win they can get regardless of the quality of the opponent, Orlando’s performance against the Pistons (45-14) is also a reflection of where the team sits almost 60 games into the regular season.

Entering Monday, the team was only 1 1/2 games back of No. 6 Philadelphia, but just one loss ahead of No. 8 Miami in the East.

“It says that we’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball no matter who’s on the floor,” Mosley said about the loss to Detroit. “We’ve got to do a better job of continuing to trust the pass. Then the other side of it is, they started off that first quarter with seven offensive rebounds quick. That’s a key thing when you’re trying to guard and defend the right way, you’ve got to finish out possessions.

“We did some good things within this game (but) it’s a tale of two halves again,” he added. “We come out and play well, play hard, and then in that second half, they turned up the heat, we turned it over. It was a good test for us to see what we can we do and how much we can continue to get better.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com

Up next …

Magic vs. Wizards

When: 7 p.m., Tuesday, Kia Center

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida