Paolo Banchero collected 23 points and nine rebounds as the visiting Orlando Magic upset the top-seeded Detroit Pistons, 112-101, in Game 1 of their first-round Eastern Conference series on Sunday.
The Magic never trailed as every starter scored at least 16 points. Franz Wagner supplied 19 points, five rebounds and four assists while Wendell Carter Jr. and Desmond Bane each contributed 17 points and five assists. Jalen Suggs had 16 points, four assists and three steals.
“I’ll say it’s a step in the right direction for the team, for this group, obviously, with our past track record on the road in the playoffs,” Banchero said. “We just have to get ready for Wednesday. See what we did well, what we can clean up. Obviously, we expect them to come out with a lot of energy and we just have to be ready for that.”
The Pistons have lost 11 straight playoff home games dating back to the 2008 Eastern Conference finals.
Cade Cunningham carried Detroit with 39 points. Tobias Harris was the only other Piston in double figures with 17 points. All-Star center Jalen Duren attempted only four shots in 33 minutes while being held to eight points and seven rebounds. The Magic shot 48.9% from the field while limiting the Pistons to 40.3% shooting.
“(The Pistons have) been off. We found a little bit of rhythm playing so many games, so that always plays a part in it,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “But I’m still just happy that our guys came out and defended the right way. We were intentional in how we executed our offense. I think those are the things that we talked about being able to do against a great team like this. How they turn you over, how they defend, how they rebound the basketball — all those small things within the game. I was happy that we accomplished that with this group.”
Orlando reached the first round by defeating Charlotte in the play-in tournament on Friday and came out on fire.
The Magic built an 18-5 lead less than five minutes into the game. Detroit closed the gap to two late in the quarter, but Orlando responded with a 6-0 spurt. The Magic held the lead throughout the second quarter and clung to a 55-51 advantage at halftime.
“I thought we were a little rusty to start,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Coming out, giving up a 35-point (first) quarter; that’s not typical for us. It felt like we were just chasing them all night. We made some runs to get ourselves back in the ball game. Defensively, I didn’t think we were our best. Critical errors, mistakes that they made us pay for. Getting back used to playing at NBA speed, I think got a little bit.”
Orlando opened the second half with an 8-1 run. Detroit responded with a 13-2 run, capped by a Cunningham 3-pointer, to make it 65-65 at the 7:04 mark.
The Magic never allowed the Pistons to pull even again. Orlando answered with a 14-3 run sparked by reserve guard Anthony Black, who had five points and two assists during that stretch. Detroit was down by seven, 81-74, entering the fourth.
The Magic made their first seven field-goal attempts in the quarter but still couldn’t quite pull away. The lead was still seven with 3:45 remaining.
Wagner then made a layup and a free throw to make it 106-96. Suggs scored on an alley-oop with 2:13 remaining and the Pistons never got closer than seven the rest of the way.
“Just not coming out ready to play,” Pistons forward Ausar Thompson said. “They came out and they hit us first. So, we have to do a better job of coming out and hitting them first and executing our coverages better.”
–Field Level Media
