ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
And then everything went wrong for Orlando. Everything. <\/p>\n
The Magic became the first team since 1996-97 \u2014 when play-by-play began getting tracked digitally \u2014 to lose at home after leading by at least 24 points with a chance to win a series.<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 and quite possibly the series \u2014 changed wildly.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The first quarter was back and forth, Detroit leading 26-25 after those opening 12 minutes.<\/p>\n
The second quarter: Magic 35, Pistons 12.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 at least in the play-by-play era, which started in 1996-97 \u2014 outscoring a No. 1 seed by 23 or more points in any quarter of a playoff game, either.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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