Cade Cunningham scored 27 points and had 11 assists and Tobias Harris added 16 points and 11 rebounds on Wednesday night as the Detroit Pistons bounced back to even their Eastern Conference playoff series with a 98-83 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic.
Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson each had 11 points for the Pistons, who snapped an 11-game home playoff game losing streak, the longest in NBA history. Duncan Robinson and Isaiah Stewart also scored 10 apiece for Detroit, which last won a home playoff game in 2008.
“It means a lot,” said Harris of ending the home playoff skid. “Obviously, we’ve heard it. (We) heard it last year, but good one for us. But, game three is the game that we have to be ready for. It’s obviously great for our fans to be able to be in our arena to give us that support. They’re huge for us. They’ve been huge for us all season long. To get a big victory for them is awesome but we got to go on the road and handle business.”
Jalen Suggs scored 19 points and Paolo Banchero added 18 for the eighth-seeded Magic. Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane also had 12 points for Orlando which connected on only 26 of 80 field-goal attempts, including just eight of 32 3-pointers.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Saturday in Orlando.
After a defensive struggle in the first half for both teams, Detroit broke the game open in the third quarter, starting with a 30-3 run. The Pistons, who scored the first 11 points before Bane nailed a 3-pointer, outscored the Magic 38-16 in the quarter. Orlando hit only five shots, committed seven turnovers and trailed by as much as 27 points.
“I think they came out, added a little bit of a level of aggression,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Now, that first play we ran, they called offensive foul on Des (Desmond Bane), and then from there, they started picking up some heat, turned us over a couple of times. We missed a few shots at the rim, and that momentum just changed the game.”
The Pistons maintained a comfortable cushion through the final quarter, allowing the Magic to get no closer than 97-83 with less than a minute remaining.
“We just play defense,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “It’s that simple. When we play defense at the level we’re capable of, it triggers everything for us. We can be an elite defensive team, a disruptive defensive team that pushes and gets us transition easy baskets, and that’s what we did.”
The first quarter was a defensive battle with the Pistons holding on for a 25-21 lead. Detroit, which led by as much as seven points, held Orlando to 26.9% shooting from the field while the Magic forced eight Pistons turnovers and briefly went in front 21-20.
The two teams continued the defensive intensity in the second quarter, which featured four ties and two lead changes. Detroit took an eight-point lead early in the quarter, but Orlando scored four of the last five points to tie the game at 46 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
