{"id":622447,"date":"2026-05-04T06:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T06:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/622447\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T06:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T06:51:10","slug":"pistons-finish-comeback-for-first-playoff-series-win-in-18-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/622447\/","title":{"rendered":"Pistons finish comeback for first playoff series win in 18 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT (AP) \u2014 Cade Cunningham had 32 points and 12 assists, Tobias Harris added 30 points and the Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic<\/a> 116-94 in Game 7 on Sunday to win a playoff series for the first time in 18 years.<\/p>\n

Cunningham averaged 32.4 points for Detroit, which last won a postseason series by beating Orlando in the second round in 2008. The Pistons advance to play the winner of Sunday night\u2019s Game 7 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors. Game 1 will be Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were pushed to the limit,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cAnd it made us really reflect on how we were playing, what got us to this position and what made us win as many games as we won in the regular season. And it got us back to playing the basketball that we knew we were capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pistons became the 15th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit and the second in the last two nights, after the Philadelphia 76ers came back to eliminate Boston.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s expected,\u201d Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of his team\u2019s resiliency. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the amount of belief that we have in this group. This is a special group. And you can\u2019t count us out. No matter the circumstances, no matter the situation, I like our chances to fight our way back.\u201d<\/p>\n

They trailed by 24 points in Game 6 in Orlando before rallying to take the series at home. Orlando only scored 113 points in the final six quarters of the series \u2014 an average of 18.8 per period.<\/p>\n

Cunningham and Harris became the first Pistons teammates to score 30 points in a playoff game since Bob Lanier (33) and Howard Porter (30) against the Golden State Warriors on April 17, 1977. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe really bonded this season,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cThis group is super tight. We think we can do anything. We\u2019ve had our backs against the wall at times in the regular season, but we stuck together and we found our way out of it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Paolo Banchero scored 38 for the Magic.<\/p>\n

Each team needed a second scoring option in Game 7. Cunningham had carried the Pistons while Banchero was Orlando\u2019s only weapon after Franz Wagner was injured in Game 4. <\/p>\n

Harris filled that role for Detroit, but Orlando only had one other player reach double figures in the first three quarters, as Desmond Bane had 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just couldn\u2019t find the basket,\u201d coach Jamahl Mosley said. \u201cWe were playing well on defense, but we couldn\u2019t put the ball in the hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pistons also got a big game from All-Star center Jalen Duren. He was outplayed by Wendell Carter Jr. in the first six games, but put up his first double-double of the series with 15 points and 15 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Harris scored 17 points in the second quarter as the Pistons finished the half on a 9-2 run to take a 60-49 lead.<\/p>\n

The Pistons\u2019 surge continued into the second half, as they opened the third quarter with a 11-2 run to go up 71-51. Nine of the points came from Cunningham and Harris.<\/p>\n

The Magic finished the third quarter with 15 points \u2014 the third time in their last five periods they couldn\u2019t reach 20 points.<\/p>\n

Daniss Jenkins hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Detroit a 83-64 lead going into the fourth, and the Magic never threatened down the stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey fought and battled the whole way,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT (AP) \u2014 Cade Cunningham had 32 points and 12 assists, Tobias Harris added 30 points and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1927,402,269755,88728,8174,114223,4576,2822,2808,56239,269756,217939,148151,121143,1305,1303,355,1063,13331,11950,56234,2113,99,148694,2970,133771],"class_list":["post-622447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ap-top-news","tag-basketball","tag-bob-lanier","tag-cade-cunningham","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-desmond-bane","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-franz-wagner","tag-howard-porter","tag-j-b-bickerstaff","tag-jalen-duren","tag-jamahl-mosley","tag-mi-state-wire","tag-michigan","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-orlando-magic","tag-paolo-banchero","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-sports","tag-tobias-harris","tag-toronto-raptors","tag-wendell-carter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}