Pistons stun ice-cold Magic with furious 2nd-half rally, force Game 7ESPN News ServicesMultiple AuthorsMay 1, 2026, 09:53 PM ET
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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.
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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.
To wit, the Magic shot 11% (4 of 37) from the field in the second half, the worst field-goal percentage by any team in a regular season or playoff half in the play-by-play era (since 1997-98), according to ESPN Research.
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.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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