Pistons rally from 24 down to beat
Magic 93-79 and force Game 7 after Orlando goes ice-cold
[May 02, 2026]
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored 32 points and the
top-seeded Detroit Pistons pulled off an incredible rally Friday
night, erasing a 24-point deficit and beating the Orlando Magic
93-79 to force a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference first-round
series.
Detroit trailed by 22 at the half and Orlando's lead went to 62-38
early in the third quarter. The Magic looked absolutely poised to
become the seventh No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed in the first
round.
And then everything went wrong for Orlando. Everything.
“Detroit grit,” Cunningham said. “That's what we've been talking
about all year.”
The Magic became the first team since 1996-97 — when play-by-play
began getting tracked digitally — to lose at home after leading by
at least 24 points with a chance to win a series.
That number, and a whole lot of others, were just baffling. The
Magic missed 23 consecutive shots from the field, Detroit went on a
35-5 run and just like that, the story of the game — and quite
possibly the series — changed wildly.
“We took each possession at a time, both offensively and
defensively, and tried our best to execute on every single
possession," Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "Every screening
action, every rebound, all the small things. We went out and focused
on that. And we put ourselves in position to win.”
Tobias Harris scored 22 points for Detroit, which will host Game 7
on Sunday. Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane each scored 17 for
Orlando, which is now 0-2 in closeout opportunities in this series
and was again without injured forward Franz Wagner.
The first quarter was back and forth, Detroit leading 26-25 after
those opening 12 minutes.
The second quarter: Magic 35, Pistons 12.
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Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, left, tires to get past
Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero, right, during the first half
in Game 6 of a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series, Friday,
May 1, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Orlando outscored the Pistons 17-0 from 3-point
range and the free-throw line in that quarter, held Detroit to
2-for-11 shooting over the first 5:48 of the period and took a 60-38
lead into the half.
The 22-point halftime lead was the fourth-largest by a No. 8 seed
over a No. 1 seed in this format. And there was never an instance of
a No. 8 seed — at least in the play-by-play era, which started in
1996-97 — outscoring a No. 1 seed by 23 or more points in any
quarter of a playoff game, either.
It seemed over. It was not. Because the third quarter: Pistons 24,
Magic 11.
“When things get sideways, people splinter. And this group does the
opposite," Pistons guard Duncan Robinson said. "It finds a way to
just come together. There’s a lot of pride in that locker room, not
wanting to go out like that.”
The tone was set for a comeback — an epic one — and when the night
ended those who remained in Orlando's Kia Center booed as they
departed for possibly the final time this season.
“We've got to go do it the hard way,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley
said.
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