Cade Cunningham scored 32 points and added 12 assists, and Tobias Harris contributed 30 points and nine rebounds to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 116-94 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Daniss Jenkins came off the bench to score 16 points and Jalen Duren had 15 points and 15 rebounds for the top-seeded Pistons, who won the final three games of the series to advance in the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Detroit is the 15th team in NBA history to rally from a 3-1 deficit.
Paolo Banchero scored 38 points and had nine rebounds and Desmond Bane added 16 points for the Magic, who blew a 3-1 first-round series lead to Detroit for the second time, with the previous collapse coming in 2003.
Detroit advances to the Eastern Conference semifinals and will face either Cleveland or Toronto beginning Tuesday.
The Pistons scored 11 of the first 13 points of the third quarter, six coming from Cunningham, to take control and build a 71-51 lead. Orlando responded with a 7-0 run to cut it to 13, but Detroit pushed the advantage back to as many as 20.
Detroit built a 25-point lead with just more than eight minutes remaining in the game. The Magic responded with a 15-4 run to pull within 100-86 with 4:22 left, but the Pistons scored 16 of the final 24 points to secure the win.
Defense ruled a tightly played first quarter, with neither side able to seize control. The teams traded the lead five times and were tied on three occasions, as physical play and contested shots kept scoring in check.
There were six more lead changes in the second quarter before the Pistons closed the half on a 20-6 run to take a 60-49 lead. Detroit erupted for 40 points in the period, fueled by 17 from Harris and 10 from Cunningham, while Banchero led Orlando with 23 points in the half.
–Field Level Media
