The Magic get their first road playoff victory since 2020 and take a 1-0 series lead.<\/p>\n
On what might otherwise be shrugged off as \u201cBlowout Sunday,\u201d the Orlando Magic and the Detroit Pistons did their best to keep their series opener intriguing.<\/p>\n
Sure, the Magic won by 11<\/a> and went wire-to-wire.<\/p>\n But it was the closest of the day\u2019s four Game 1 clashes. And when the No. 8 seed grabs a 1-0 series lead<\/a> on the conference champion\u2019s court \u2013 Orlando\u2019s first road playoff victory since 2020 \u2013 yawning is not an option.<\/p>\n The Pistons and the Magic really aren\u2019t so different in timelines and talent. It\u2019s just that Detroit kept going vertical this season while Orlando veered horizontal. Seven spots in the final East standing meant little in the Magic\u2019s 112-101 upset victory at Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\n Here are four takeaways:<\/p>\n 1. Magic? Orlando\u2019s revival looks like sorcery<\/p>\n Reports of the Magic\u2019s demise, sparked by their embarrassing loss in Game 82 to a lineup of Celtics leftovers and fanned against Philadelphia Wednesday in the East\u2019s 7-8 SoFi Play-In Tournament game, suddenly seem exaggerated. Orlando played like its best self Friday to oust Charlotte for the No. 8 playoff berth, then took Game 1 over Detroit as if nary a discouraging word had been uttered about them.<\/p>\n In a span of 72 hours, all sorts of negative possibilities that looked to be on the table \u2013 a coaching change, addition-by-subtraction personnel moves \u2013vanished, to the point you couldn\u2019t even find the table. The smackdown of the Hornets was one thing, but going into Detroit to beat the 60-victory Pistons was a whole \u2019nother level.<\/p>\n The Magic hadn\u2019t held an opponent to so few points since early March. They gave up only six offensive boards to the Pistons, who averaged twice that. Coach Jamahl Mosley\u2019s players had a 20-point edge scoring in the paint and were so pleased to meet the intensity and aggression of the moment they weren\u2019t even all that bothered by getting doubled-up from the foul line, shooting 19 free throws to Detroit\u2019s 38.<\/p>\n A group presumed to be wearing toe tags inside their sneakers just a few days ago now looks very much alive. Alive!<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a new season,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cWhatever story you told yourself during the regular season, that story is done. How we come together, how we play with poise, how we defend at a high level, how we communicate with each other, that\u2019s a part of this story now.\u201d<\/p>\n Said team leader Paolo Banchero: \u201cThere\u2019s nothing you can do to go back and change what happened. We\u2019re here in the playoffs and we have a chance to do what we set out to do since October.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. Pistons feel top-seed disadvantages<\/p>\n Clinching the East\u2019s No. 1 seed early, it had been a while since Detroit felt any gotta-win urgency. It hadn\u2019t played at all in a week and, due to the Play-In, it didn\u2019t learn its opponent until Friday.<\/p>\n This was a situation ripe for the ol\u2019 rest vs. rust dilemma, and the Magic\u2019s quick 15-5 lead confirmed it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came out a little too tight, lax, whatever the word is,\u201d said guard Cade Cunningham. \u201cMaybe both for some of us. \u2026 We gave them life early on and then we had to deal with that for the rest of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pistons never stopped chasing, but they also never caught the visitors. Cunningham scored 39 points and Tobias Harris got 17 on 5-for-15 shooting, but they were the only two on their team to score 10 points or more. The halfcourt offense was especially clunky \u2013 take away Detroit\u2019s fast-break and second-chance points and it managed just 60 vs. Orlando\u2019s chosen defense.<\/p>\n Rusty. Stagnant. Lapsing into hero ball. All figure to be improved by Game 2 on Wednesday (7 ET, ESPN<\/a>).<\/p>\n 3. Banchero and Wagner, not \u2018or\u2019<\/p>\n Franz Wagner gets to the rim for a big dunk.<\/p>\n One of the recurring rumbles about Orlando during this season that never really launched was speculation that Banchero and Wagner couldn\u2019t thrive long-term playing alongside each other. Too much overlap in their ball-dependent styles, some suggested. Overlaps in their skill sets.<\/p>\n Close enough in age to suggest a little sibling rivalry.<\/p>\n Whatever doubts Boston\u2019s pair of stellar forwards \u2013 Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown \u2013 put to rest by sheer force of winning, Banchero and Wagner appeared to inherit. So much so that the former reacted angrily when asked yet again about the dynamic in December.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s bull\u2014-,\u201d Banchero told The Athletic then. \u201cPeople are going to say whatever they want to say about me, Franz and whoever. But we know that we\u2019re at our strongest when both of us are out there on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n Often it\u2019s been hard to tell. Banchero played 74 games this season, Wagner just 34 due to injuries. Their 429 minutes together ranked 27th among the Magic\u2019s two-man combos. The tandem\u2019s net rating of 4.5 was so-so for two projected young stars toting maximum contract extensions.<\/p>\n In this one, though, they didn\u2019t just co-exist, they co-romped. Banchero and guard Jalen Suggs did the early scoring damage. Wagner got 11 of his 19 in the fourth to fend off the Pistons. And they both were on the court together a lot, finishing comfortably in the plus column.<\/p>\n 4. Step back for Duren<\/p>\n While he was busy Sunday night, the NBA released the finalists for its annual awards, and Pistons big man Jalen Duren as expected is one of three vying for the Most Improved Player Award. The chiseled 6-foot-10 center is worthy, earning his first All-Star appearance while upping his production to 19.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg and 3.8 offensive rebounds per game.<\/p>\n But Duren was more invisible than improved in Game 1, chipping in just eight points and seven boards in 33 minutes. He had no more impact than a year ago in his postseason debut against New York (six rebounds, seven points).<\/p>\n Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff credited the Magic for crowding Duren in the paint to limit his touches \u2013 he got only four shots, compared to the 12.4 he averaged after the All-Star break. Cunningham said he and his other teammates have to deliver cleaner passes inside to Duren.<\/p>\n Either way, considering how Duren helped carry the Pistons through Cunningham\u2019s collapsed-lung absence late in the season, the MIP finalist needs to improve again.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n