Cade Cunningham steps in for Pistons on the brink, beating Magic star Paolo Banchero in Game 5
DETROIT (AP) — Cade Cunningham came for the Pistons when they needed him. With Detroit on the brink of elimination, Cunningham beat Orlando’s Paolo Banchero in a sensational points matchup between former No. 1 picks. 1 overall.
Cunningham had a franchise playoff record 45 points and the top-seeded Pistons held off the eighth-seeded Magic to win 116-109 Wednesday night in Game 5 of the first-round series, avoiding elimination for at least a couple of days.
Announcement
“We’ve dug ourselves a hole and now it’s time to get out,” Cunningham said. “It’s possible.”
Orlando leads the series 3-2 and will have a second chance to advance at home Friday night. If the Pistons win their first road game of the series, they will host the decisive Game 7 on Sunday.
Banchero also scored 45 points for a playoff career high — but missed 7 of 12 free throws — and fell one point short of matching the franchise postseason record shared by Tracy McGrady and Dwight Howard.
The Magic were outrebounded by 16 rebounds and made just 16 of 30 free throws.
“We’ve got to be better on the glass and obviously better at the free throw line,” said Banchero, drafted No. 1 overall by Orlando in 2022. “If we hit our free throws, we have a real chance to win the game. We lost by seven and missed 14 free throws. That’s the game.”
Announcement
Cunningham set a single-game playoff points record for Detroit that had stood since Dave Bing scored 44 points in 1968. Isiah Thomas came close to that mark with a 43-point performance in 1988.
There has only been one other playoff game in NBA history in which two players scored 45 or more points.
Donovan Mitchell scored 51 points for Utah in a win over Denver in 2020, while the Nuggets’ Jamal Murray scored 50 points.
When Detroit first drafted Cunningham overall in 2021, they hoped he would have games like this.
He was 13 of 23 from the field, made a career-high five 3-pointers in the playoffs and was 14 of 14 at the line.
Announcement
“We’ll see this for a long time,” Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff said. “He will do a lot of special things.”
The 24-year-old Cunningham found himself in trouble in late-game situations with the ball early in the series and in last year’s first-round series against the New York Knicks, but he was in trouble in key moments to extend the game with the Magic.
The Pistons never trailed, leading by 17 points in the first half and 15 early in the fourth quarter.
The Magic got within three points of Banchero’s sixth 3-pointer with 1:09 left.
On the next possession, after Ausar Thompson hustled for an offensive rebound, Cunningham stepped back 16 feet to seal it.
Announcement
“Not everyone is fortunate enough to have the opportunity to apply pressure and have things like that on the line,” Cunningham said. “I’m just grateful for it and try to make the most of it.
“We’ve had a great season so far and none of us want it to end.”
The Pistons hope to bounce back from the brink of elimination like they did against the Magic more than two decades ago.
Detroit’s 2003 comeback as a No. 1 seed against eighth-seeded Orlando was the first of seven times NBA teams have rallied from a 3-1 deficit this century. The Nuggets were the last team to accomplish the feat six years ago – in the same series in which Mitchell and Murray each scored more than 50 points – and became the first team in the league to do it twice in a postseason.
Announcement
“You don’t want to put yourself in this situation, but this is what we expected,” Bickerstaff said. “When our backs are against the wall, we come out swinging. We come out kicking. We come out scratching, biting, clawing.”
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba