FootyChatter.com

NBA NBA Playoffs Orlando's Paolo Banchero and Detroit's Cade Cunningham put on a show in Game 5 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Gregory Shamus / Getty Images The Detroit Pistons kept their season alive, trimming the series deficit to 3-2 with a 116-109 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night at Little Caesars Arena. Detroit is trying to avoid becoming the first No. 1 seed to fall to a No. 8 seed since 2023, when the Miami Heat stunned the Milwaukee Bucks. Advertisement From the opening tip, the Pistons brought a different level of intensity and never let up. They controlled the game from start to finish, never trailing, behind a dominant showing from Cade Cunningham, who poured in 45 points to go along with 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Tobias Harris added 23 points and 8 rebounds, while Jalen Duren delivered his strongest performance of the series with 12 points and 9 rebounds. Cunningham’s 45-point night set a franchise playoff record, breaking Dave Bing’s mark of 44. Orlando got a huge effort from Paolo Banchero, who matched Cunningham with 45 points and had 9 rebounds and 7 assists, and Desmond Bane contributed 18 points. The Magic were without Franz Wagner, who missed Game 5 due to a right calf strain. The series now shifts back to Orlando, where the Magic will look to close things out in Game 6 on Friday. Here are some takeaways heading into Game 6. There was no way Cunningham was letting the Pistons’ season end on their home court. And he played like it. His 45 points were the most in franchise history, and Detroit needed each of them. It was a masterpiece of a performance from their franchise cornerstone, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Cunningham was scoring from all three levels, and it took him only 23 shots to notch the feat. Cunningham did exactly what he needed to to send this series back to Orlando with a chance to close it out at home. The Pistons needed him to be at an All-NBA level, and he had no problem doing so. The MVP chants that rained down, and usually do inside Little Caesars Arena, never felt more deserved than on Wednesday night. It was a performance unlike any other in the Pistons’ storied playoff history — all while Hall of Famer and Pistons legend Ben Wallace looked on with pride from the baseline. — Hunter Patterson Advertisement These teams are mirror images of each other. They’re both predicated on physicality. They both struggle to shoot, especially from long range. In the first four games, the team that won the physicality and hustle battles in the early minutes of the first quarter — the Magic in Game 1, the Pistons in Game 2, the Magic in Game 3 and Game 4 — won the game. The Pistons won the early physicality and hustle battles in Game 5 and won the game. The Pistons took a 13-7 lead on the strength of their offensive rebounding and on an unusual number of early Magic fouls. There were two sequences in the first two minutes, four seconds in which the Magic allowed the Pistons to collect offensive rebounds off missed free throws; no team can allow that to happen in a playoff game where the margins between equally matched teams are so critical. If this pattern holds, Friday’s Game 6 in Orlando will come down to physicality. Which team will impose its will? Which team will cause the most turnovers? Which team will be toughest on the boards? Second-chance points were crucial Wednesday. The Pistons finished with 22, the Magic had 21, but Detroit dominated the offensive boards, grabbing 16 to Orlando’s 8. The Magic have been close to dominant at home in the postseason under Jamahl Mosley, with an 8-1 overall record the last three springs: 2-0 in Play-In Tournament games, 3-0 in the 2024 series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, 1-1 last spring against the Boston Celtics and 2-0 in this series. With Franz Wagner dealing with a calf strain, I find it difficult to envision him playing Friday. And with him out, the Magic will need every ounce of home-court advantage they and their fans can muster to prevent a Game 7 on Sunday back in Detroit. — Josh Robbins Game 5 was Paolo Banchero’s best offensive game of the series by far, with 45 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Advertisement For Orlando, it’s a welcome sign. If Wagner misses Game 6, which I think is likely, someone has to pick up the scoring slack, and no two Magic players are better situated to do that than Banchero and Desmond Bane. Bane finished with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting, but he was knocked out of his rhythm by some foul trouble. Physicality will be important, but even a dominant physical performance needs to be supplemented by some skill. Banchero and Bane will likely have to shoulder that load. Even with all of their early problems in the game, the Magic still could have won if they had shot better from the free-throw line. They went 16 of 30 from there — far too many misses in a series where the margins are so critical. — Robbins Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle