ORLANDO, Fla. Jon Asamoah . -- During the Magics recent struggles one of the few constants has been the offence provided by Arron Afflalo. The veteran provided another reminder of why hes so indispensable for a young team trying to find itself. Afflalo scored 23 points to lead five Orlando players in double-figures and the Magic snapped a three-game losing streak with a 109-92 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. Orlando led the Pistons by as many as 22 points and cruised in the fourth quarter. Afflalo said the victory was one of the most complete efforts the Magic have posted in recent memory. "Its good to get a win at home for once," said Afflalo, who has scored at least 20 points in five straight outings. "I dont think weve won here this month. It was pretty impressive defensively. I thought the bigs did a great job trying to fight their bigs all night rebounding. I thought we shared the ball throughout the game, made the right play. "When we play like that I think were pretty good." The Magics leading scorer this season, Afflalo played eight minutes of the third quarter after lightly turning his left ankle. But after coming out of the game briefly, he was able to finish the period -- scoring six points -- before resting in the fourth. "The ankle, its one of those things where if you can fight through it, you go ahead and play," he said. The victory halted a five-game home losing streak for the Magic, who hadnt won at the Amway Center since the day before Thanksgiving. Nik Vucevic added 20 points and 11 rebounds, and rookie Victor Oladipo finished with 16 points and a career-high 11 assists. Magic coach Jacque Vaughn thought Fridays effort was sparked by what he called a surprisingly "intense" practice for this time of year. "That has to be our signature -- we have to come to work," he said. "I always tell them I dont know what results thats going to lead to wins and losses-wise, but you can look yourself in the mirror and appreciate what you do for a living, and your teammates appreciate you when you come to work." Brandon Jennings had 21 points and Will Bynum added 18 for the Pistons, who had a streak of three consecutive road victories ended. "From the start of the game, we just couldnt get anything going. We got a couple stops in the third quarter, but we couldnt score, and it just kept going downhill from there," Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks said. "We couldnt get anything going offensively, they pushed the ball down our throat defensively, and then we didnt make any shots." The Pistons, who claimed eight of their 14 wins on the road, never found a flow on offence. They shot 41 per cent for the game, and were outscored in the paint 58-48. "We had no sense of urgency and we didnt muster energy at all tonight," Jennings said. "Its got to be a collective unit to try to get it back together, but we didnt have it tonight." In some of their recent losses Orlando had started fast, only to fall apart late in the games. The Magic jumped out to another early lead, but this time were able to sustain it with a variety of scoring bursts that kept the Pistons playing catch up for most of the night. Orlando hovered over 50 per cent shooting throughout and carried a 19-point lead into the fourth quarter. The Magic carved out their early advantage shooting 56 per cent in the opening 24 minutes to take a 55-48 lead into halftime. Glen Davis had eight points in less than five minutes and then yielded to Afflalo, who finished the half with 12 points. Oladipo and Tobias Harris each added 10 points. Afflalo said theres no secret to what it will take for the Magic to have another "good night" like Friday. "Just get after it, man. Theres no mystery," he said. "We know what we need to do -- same focus, same effort. It starts with our preparation in shootaround, our intensity, attention to detail. And keeping our foot on the gas pedal." NOTES: The Magic improved to 5-6 when they score 100 or more points. ... Pistons G Chauncey Billups opted to continue his recent program of resting his tendinitis-affected knee on the first game of back-to-backs. Cheeks said Billups is expected to play when Detroit visits Washington on Saturday. Joplo Bartu . Brendan Rodgers team had won its first three games and a fourth consecutive victory would have marked the clubs best start ever in the Premier League. But Michus second-half equalizer ruined Liverpools plans after goals from Daniel Sturridge and Victor Moses had given the visitors a 2-1 lead following Jonjo Shelveys opener. Lamar Holmes . Bolden, who was set to become a free agent on Feb. 15, played 17 regular-season games at defensive tackle for the Stampeders in 2013, recording 34 tackles, four sacks, three knockdowns and two fumble recoveries.TORONTO -- A champion humbled in the cage. Personal turmoil. For Georges St-Pierre, "his worst nightmare." "I have never been so messed up mentally in my life," he said. That was in 2007, six years before the Canadian mixed martial arts star found himself in the spotlight again after a controversial win at UFC 167 Saturday and his revelation that he needs time away from the sport for unexplained personal reasons. St-Pierre, the face of mixed martial arts, is an elite fighter with the reputation as a model citizen outside the cage. But he is no stranger to unwanted drama. At UFC 69 in Houston in April 2007, in his first UFC welterweight title defence, he was knocked out by 10-1 underdog Matt (The Terror) Serra. UFC boss Dana White called it "probably the biggest upset in MMA in a long time." St-Pierre later spoke of upheaval in his life. "I had a lot of personal issues," St. Pierre said. "A lot of stuff was going wrong." It turns out his father was suffering from a brain ailment and a young cousin was in a coma. Fast forward to today and the 32-year-old from Montreal, who won his title back from Serra in 2008 and went on to become the sports pay-per-view king, is back in the headlines as pressures outside the cage take their toll. A split decision over No. 1 contender Johny (Bigg Rigg) Hendricks in Las Vegas drew fire from White, who demanded an investigation into the judging by the Nevada State Athletic Commission The UFC president wanted an immediate rematch. St-Pierre, who said he left his "soul in the Octagon" against Hendricks, wanted time away to attend to personal issues. The champion would not detail what was going on "I need to think. I have stuff going on in my life ... This is my personal life," he told the post-fight news conference. "I cannot speak to you about this. Youre a reporter, I know your job is to make thing public. "But I have a personal life, I keep personal some of my stuff." That has always been St-Pierres way. "Georges is very conservative about his personal life. He keeps everything inside," friend and fellow UFC fighter Patrick Cote said back in 2007. GSPs private life is now headline material again, thanks in part to his opening a Pandoras box Saturday night after his controversial win. He essentially said he had a secret, which set all sorts of people trying to find out what. A TMZ report said the champion is dealing with a family illness and a personal issue. An email to St-Pierres management asking for reaction to the report was not immediately answered. White told The Canadian Press on Monday night that St-Pierre had told him the report was not true. After meeting the champion privately Saturday after the fight, White said St-Pierres issues "arent as bad as he thinks they are." "Yeah, well get through this," he added. In St-Pierres rural Quebec hometown of St-Isidore, south of Montreal, locals said Monday that the champion has nothing left to prove. Michelle Dubuc says she hired a teenage St-Pierre years ago to work at her St-Isidore farm, tending to vegetables and herbs. Dubuc said she has known his family for a long time, adding that the champs father once worked for her dad. "Georges is a family guy," Dubuc said as she enjoyed a happy-hour beer at the towns local sports bar. "I dont think money is important for him... Hes a simple, nice guy and he loves his people in St-Isidore." And St-Pierres father insisted that rumours he has heard about his son arent true, although he would not elaborate. "Everything is OK at the moment for him," Roland St-Pierre told The Canadian Press in a brief exchange at his home. "There are things that came out that are not even true." The elder St-Pierre would only add that his son will determine his own future. Todd McClure. . "If he takes a break, it will be him who decides and it will be OK either way," he said, declining to discuss the matter further. "He will do the right thing." St-Pierre is very close to his family. One of the first things he did with his UFC winnings was pay off his parents mortgage. Family issues weigh heavy on his shoulders. In the wake of losing his title in 2007, St-Pierre conceded he had more than fighting on his mind before meeting Serra. "People were dying. I had to go to the hospital at night," he said at the time. "I was sleeping like maybe two, three hours a night when I was training for that fight. I was sleeping with one eye open because I thought I had to go drive my father to hospital and stuff like that. "I was very worried about a lot of things in my life. Not only this, I had a lot of other stuff going on." Back then, St. Pierre said he didnt talk about his family issues because he didnt want to intrude on their privacy. But it was more than just illness in the family. St. Pierre said he lost his way, focusing on PR more than his training. "I forgot who I was, what was my No. 1 priority," he said back then. "I didnt realize how lucky I was, to have this opportunity to be world champion," he added. "Once I lost, I realized all that stuff and it made me regret a lot of things." Former manager Stephane Patry said at the time that St-Pierre stumbled outside the ring. "He didnt train as much as he should, because he was too busy doing other things than training and fighting," Patry said. "He won the title, hes a kid, he was 25 years old," Patry added, when pressed. "Lets just say he partied a little bit too much." St-Pierre subsequently retooled his organization and entourage. He has not lost since, with the Hendricks fight -- and its apparent surrounding personal pressures -- his closest call. In the wake of the Hendricks fight, the Nevada commission issued a medical suspension to St-Pierre until Jan. 10, with no contact in training until Dec. 17. Hendricks, whose face showed almost no traces that he had been in a fight, was suspended until Dec. 17 with no contact before Dec. 8. But he was also told to get orthopedic clearance on his right knee or else face a ban until May 17. St-Pierre himself was all smiles Monday. The champion tweeted a picture of himself in his Las Vegas hotel with four friends including his mentor, former fighter Kristof (The French Hurricane) Midoux. "Good morning from Vegas - Feeling much better now! Merci a tous pour votre support incroyable!!!" St-Pierre tweeted. He wore a big grin and dark glasses to conceal facial damage from the fight. St-Pierre received a basic purse of US$400,000 while Hendricks got $50,000, missing out on a matching win bonus, according to the Nevada state commission. The UFC awarded both fighters an additional $50,000 as a fight of the night bonus. The purse information only tells part of the financial story, however, since the UFC does not reveal all of its pay figures. St-Pierres paycheque would be the millions given he is the UFCs largest draw and gets a cut of the lucrative pay-per-view revenue. Hendricks (15-2) would also have made considerably more than the posted figure. Fellow Montreal welterweight Rory MacDonald made a basic purse of $50,000 for his decision loss to (Ruthless) Robbie Lawler, who picked up $166,000 including a win bonus of $83,000. MacDonald missed out on a win bonus of $50,000. Former light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans picked up a basic purse of $250,000, including a $125,000 win bonus, for his first-round TKO of Chael Sonnen ($100,000). ' ' '
