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 conference
quarterfinal round.
And then everything went wrong for Orlando. Everything.
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.
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.
The first quarter was back and forth, Detroit leading 26-25 after those opening 12 minutes.
The second quarter: Magic 35, Pistons 12.
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. The tone was set for a comeback, and when the night ended those who remained in Orlando's Kia Center booed as they departed for possibly the final time this season.
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