04/29/26 09:01:00
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04/29 21:00 CDT Cade Cunningham scores 45, Pistons beat Magic 116-109 in Game 5
to stave off elimination
Cade Cunningham scores 45, Pistons beat Magic 116-109 in Game 5 to stave off
elimination
By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
DETROIT (AP) --- Cade Cunningham scored a franchise playoff-record 45 points,
including a step-back jumper with 32 seconds left, and the top-seeded Detroit
Pistons beat the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic 116-109 on Wednesday night in Game
5 of their first-round series to stave off elimination.
Orlando leads the series 3-2 and will get a second chance to advance at home on
Friday night.
The Magic fell to 0-10 in franchise history on the road in a Game 5.
Detroit never trailed and went ahead by 15 early in the final quarter. The
Magic made one more run, pulling within three points on Paolo Banchero's sixth
3-pointer with 1:09 left. Banchero matched Cunningham with 45 points, also a
playoff career high --- but he missed 7 of 12 free throws.
The Pistons are hoping to bounce back from the brink of elimination as they did
against the Magic two-plus decades ago.
Detroit's comeback in 2003 as a No. 1 seed against eighth-seeded Orlando was
the first of seven times NBA teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit this
century. The Denver Nuggets were the last team to pull off the feat in 2020,
when they became the first franchise in the league to do it twice in one
postseason.
Magic forward Franz Wagner was sidelined with a strained right calf. He had 19
points in two-plus quarters before he departed late in the third quarter on
Monday night and averaged nearly 17 points and 5.5 rebounds over the first four
games of the series.
Cunningham was 13 of 23 from the field, making a playoff career-high five
3-pointers, and was 14 of 14 at the line in what proved to be the difference in
a duel with Banchero, also a former No. 1 overall pick.
Tobias Harris scored 23 points for the Pistons, All-Star center Jalen Duren
snapped out of a slump with 12 points and nine rebounds, and Duncan Robinson
also scored 12.
Anthony Black had a playoff career-high 19 points, Desmond Bane scored 18
points and Jalen Suggs added 10 for the Magic.
The Pistons played with a sense of urgency at the start after being rusty or
flat early in previous games.
Detroit led by 17 in the second quarter, but the Magic cut the deficit to six
points by halftime. Orlando pulled within two points early in the third and
Cunningham's fifth 3-pointer late in the quarter helped the Pistons take an
89-79 lead into the fourth.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
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