Pistons Stun Ice-Cold Magic With Furious 2nd-Half Rally, Force Game 7

Cade Cunningham Score 32 points and top seed Detroit Pistons pulled off an incredible rally Friday night, erasing a 24-point deficit and Orlando Magic 93-79 to force a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Detroit trailed by 22 at the half and Orlando’s lead went to 62-38 early in the third quarter. The Magic are all but poised to become the seventh No. 8 seed, dropping a No. 1 seed in the conference quarterfinal round.

And then everything went wrong for Orlando. everything

The Magic became the first team since 1996-97 — when play-by-play began to be tracked digitally — to lose at home after leading by at least 24 points with a chance to win a series.

That number and many others were simply astounding. 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 — and possibly the series — changed wildly.

To wit, the Magic shot 11% (4 of 37) from the field in the second half, the worst field-goal percentage of any team in a regular-season or playoff half (since 1997-98), according to ESPN Research.

Tobias Harris Scored 22 points for Detroit, which will host Game 7 on Sunday. Paolo Banchero And Desmond Benn Each scored 17 for Orlando, which is now 0-2 in shutout opportunities in the series.

The first quarter was the lead, with Detroit leading 26-25 after the opening 12 minutes.

Second quarter: Magic 35, Pistons 12.

Orlando outscored the Pistons 17-0 from 3-point range and the free-throw line that quarter, holding Detroit to 2-for-11 shooting over the first 5:48 of the period and taking a 60-38 lead into the half.

The 22-point halftime lead was the fourth largest by a No. 8 seed over a No. 1 seed in this format. And there has never been an instance of a No. 8 seed — at least in the play-by-play era, which began in 1996-97 — outscoring a No. 1 seed by 23 or more points in any quarter of a playoff game.

It seemed the end. It wasn’t. Because third quarter: Pistons 24, Magic 11. The tone was set for a comeback, and by the end of the night those in Orlando’s Kia Center were anxious as they departed for perhaps the final time this season.

This report uses information from The Associated Press.