Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons aren’t giving up just yet.
Cunningham went off in a historic battle with Paolo Banchero on Wednesday night to keep the Pistons alive this spring. Cunningham dropped 45 points to lead them to a 116-109 win over the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of their opening-round playoff series.
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That cut the Magic’s lead in the series to 3-2 and forced a Game 6 later this week back in Florida.
Cunningham shot 13-of-23 from the floor and 5-of-8 from behind the arc while picking up his 45 points, which set a new Pistons single-game playoff record. That passed a mark set by Dave Bing back in 1968.
While the Pistons are still in a dangerous position after falling into a 3-1 hole to the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, their postseason hopes aren’t gone just yet.
Cunningham takes off in second quarter
The Pistons tried to take control of the game in the first half, and to their credit, their offense looked better than it has the entire series. They put up 66 points in the first half behind 27 from Cunningham, who went 8-of-14 from the field and had 20 in the second quarter alone. At one point, they even built up a 17 point lead. Cunningham’s 27 points marked the highest scoring postseason half by a Pistons player in the play-by-play era.
But the Magic just never went away, and ended the half on a quick 7-0 burst to get within just two possessions at the break. Banchero had 22 points at half, too.
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Orlando kept going out of the break, too, and cut the game to just two points not even three minutes into the third quarter. But that was as close as they got. Cunningham added 10 more in the third and got Detroit’s lead back to double digits entering the fourth quarter.
Banchero kept the Magic in it early in the fourth quarter, responding with a huge play every time that the Pistons appeared to be pulling away. Banchero drilled a wild contested 3-pointer with about a minute left on the clock to bring them back within just three points, too.
But Cunningham responded perfectly with a fadeaway jumper of his own on the other end, which ended up being enough to seal the deal. From there, the Pistons held on to grab the seven-point win and extend the series.
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Banchero finished with 45 points for the Magic, which was just shy of their single-game playoff scoring record. He went 17-of-31 from the field, and had nine rebounds and seven assists to go with it.
The Pistons are still on the brink of elimination, which is a stunning place for the team that dominated in the East all season long. Only six No. 8 seeds have ever knocked off a No. 1 seed in the playoffs, most recently back in 2023. The Magic will have a prime opportunity to become the seventh starting on Friday on their home court.
Yet Cunningham and the Pistons looked much better, and like a team capable of making a postseason run that hasn’t been seen in Detroit in nearly two decades. They’ll just have to be perfect the next two games to have that shot.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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