A Sense of Doubt blog post #4093 - Detroit Pistons Overcome 24 Point Deficit to win GAME SIX, forcing a Game Seven Sunday May Third
I am a very hopeful fan. I never boo my team. I never turn off a game in disgust. I rarely say anything negative during the game.
Once the Pistons were down 1-3 in the series, I had been saying that the Pistons COULD WIN three in a row but WILL THEY WIN THREE IN A ROW?
Third win or go home game of the week and the last one they need to win to move on to play either Cleveland or Toronto, another game seven that will be decided on Sunday.
There's a third NBA game seven tonight between the Sixers and the Celtics. Exciting!!
GO PISTONS!!
DETROIT PISTONS WIN 93-79 BOX SCORE
Pistons stun ice-cold Magic with furious 2nd-half rally, force Game 7
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48651456/pistons-stun-ice-cold-magic-furious-2nd-half-rally-force-game-7ORLANDO, Fla. -- A 24-point third-quarter lead by the Orlando Magic had evaporated, and Desmond Bane had just missed two 3-point shots when he had the ball by the Kia Center logo, unsure of what to do.
With his teammates not moving on offense, Bane launched another 3 from 29 feet that hit the front rim with 6:14 remaining in Game 6. The home crowd groaned.
Orlando led by 24 points early in the third quarter and was 23 minutes from upsetting the top-seeded Detroit Pistons and advancing to the second round. But the Magic suffered an astounding collapse that included missing a playoff-record 23 consecutive shots over a 12-plus minute span to allow the Pistons to keep their season alive with an improbable 93-79 win Friday night.
The Magic led 3-1 in this best-of-7 series, but it's the Pistons who have rediscovered the swagger and impenetrable defense that helped them win 60 games and earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Detroit has fought to tie the series and can complete this incredible comeback Sunday at home in Game 7 and advance to the second round.
"Until it's over for us, it ain't over," Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "And they just continue to impress me. We just have that mentality that you are going to have to choke the life out of us.
"And if not, we're going to keep swinging. And as they say, one of them is going to hit the temple, and we'll get an opportunity to win games."
Despite not having Franz Wagner (right calf strain) for the second consecutive game, the Magic had the Pistons on the ropes. Orlando led by 24 points with 11:11 remaining in the third. But the Magic never delivered the knockout punch.
Instead, they went ice-cold. They shot 4 for 37 in the second half, setting the worst field goal percentage in any regular-season or playoff half with at least 35 attempts in the play-by-play era (since 1997-98) according to ESPN Research. They shot an abysmal 1-for-20 in the fourth quarter.
Paolo Banchero, Bane and Jalen Suggs combined to go 2-for-26, including 0-for-13 from 3, in the second half. At one point, the Pistons held the Magic without a made basket for 45 minutes in real time.
Stunning doesn't come close to describing the Magic's epic offensive meltdown.
"They were just playing more desperate than us, playing harder than us," said Bane, who was acquired for four first-round picks and a pick swap to stop this kind of shooting drought. "Whether it was offensive rebounds, heating up their pressure to get steals, really kind of took us out of our stuff, messed with our flow."
Cade Cunningham put the Pistons in position to win this series. He had 32 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. The Detroit star outscored the Magic in the second half 24-19. He scored 19 points in the fourth quarter, when Detroit just kept gaining more and more confidence with each Orlando miss.
"Detroit grit," Cunningham said in a postgame interview on the court. "That's what we've been talking about all year."
In this series, the Pistons have had two massive runs that basically saved their season. They had a 30-3 third-quarter run that fueled their Game 2 win in Detroit. And after falling behind by 24 early in the third, the Pistons went on a 42-10 spurt that gave them an 80-72 lead with 5:14 remaining.
"It's our defense," Cunningham said. "When we're guarding the way that we're supposed to be, it's really hard for them to score on us. And there's just been too many stretches throughout this series where we haven't guarded the way we supposed to. So, we've allowed them to have life. We've allowed them to move and get their shots and all that stuff.
"But whenever we really lock in on our defense, it's tough for them to score on us, and we know that."
Orlando went from being one half away from becoming just the seventh No. 8 seed to upset a top seed in the first round since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 1983-84 to potentially blowing a 3-1 lead.
How will the Magic recover from the collapse with the likelihood that Wagner misses Game 7? Wagner did not participate in the morning shootaround before Game 6 and was in a walking boot on the bench.
"Just keep everybody together," said Banchero, who finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. "The series [isn't] over. They clawed their way to tie it up 3-3. We won a game there to start the series. We've just got to do it again."
Inside the Pistons' magical season-saving 2nd-half comeback in Game 6
ORLANDO – Over the past three years, the Detroit Pistons have overcome one adverse situation after another, climbing from a 14-win season to the best record in the Eastern Conference entering the 2026 NBA playoffs.
A 60-win team appeared dead, though, midway through Game 6 of their first-round series against the Orlando Magic on Friday, May 1. The Pistons trailed the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic, 62-38, following a second quarter that laid bare all the issues that have plagued the East's top seed this postseason.
Rather than lay down, the Pistons did what they’ve done all season – fight.
The defensive pressure flipped almost instantly, and an epic comeback win followed with one of the most impressive halves in franchise history. The Pistons' series with the Magic is tied, 3-3, with Game 7 set for Little Caesars Arena on Sunday (3:30 p.m., ABC).
Yes: One made field goal in the final 12 minutes.
Coupled with a strong performance from Cade Cunningham – 32 points and 10 rebounds, with 19 of those points in the fourth – the Pistons showed the elite defense that allowed them to clinch the East in early April.
And now they have a chance to win a playoff series for the first time since 2008.
“We weren’t going to lay down for anything,” Cunningham said. “We went into the locker room, obviously we had a big hill to climb. But it was still a lot of confidence in the room that we were going to do it together and we were going to find a way out.”A return to form
With 4:14 left in the third quarter, Anthony Black hit a 3 to extend the Magic's lead to 70-54. Their next field goal – a breakaway dunk for Paolo Banchero – didn't come until there was 2:24 left in the fourth. It whittled the Pistons’ lead to 89-77 – a 28-point flip.
In between, Orlando missed 23 consecutive shots – the most by any team in NBA playoff history, according to ESPN Insights. The Magic’s 19 points after halftime are the fewest in the second half of a Game 6 in NBA history. As a result, the Pistons were only the third team to rally from a 20-point deficit in an elimination game, joining the 2018 Oklahoma City Thunder and 2024 Minnesota Timberwolves.
On those 19 points: 11 came in the third, with eight came in the fourth. It was a signature return to form for a Pistons team that boasted the league’s second-best defense during the regular season. Detroit led the league in blocks and steals and forced more turnovers than any other squad.
Orlando saw the full potential of their capability.
“We changed the amount of pressure that we were putting at the point of attack,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We changed how active we were on the ball, how physical we were on the ball. And again, that's when we're at our best. So, we've got to make sure we continue to do that.”
The game nearly got away from Detroit in a second quarter Orlando won, 35-12. The Pistons' inconsistent motor all series stalled out with their worst quarter in six games. A deafening crowd witnessed the Magic hold the Pistons to 28.6% shooting on 21 attempts, making Orlando's quest to become just the seventh 8-seed in NBA history to defeat a 1-seed seem all but complete.
The Pistons' body language spoke for itself as they retreated to the locker room facing a 60-38 deficit.
And yet, while the Pistons knew they were in trouble – of 183 NBA teams to trail a playoff game by 22 points, only five had come back to win – they didn’t panic.
“There was a lot of encouragement, to be honest,” Duncan Robinson said. “To be in that situation, understanding that, first off, what we’re trying to do is possible. We can come back and win this game; we’ve done this before and we’ve proven that in the regular season at various times, coming back from deficits at halftime and making it a game. We knew what it was going to take from an effort standpoint and trying to win three minutes at a time.
“Once we won those first three, we won it by four or five and it was, all right, let’s get the next three, and the next three, and the next three minutes are the most important. And just staying in the moment.”
Whittling down the deficit
A layup by Orlando veteran Desmond Bane opened the second half, tying the Magic's biggest lead of the night at 24 points. Bit by bit, Detroit whittled the deficit down: A 7-0 Pistons run reduced it to 17, and then Robinson knocked down a pair of 3-pointers – sandwiched around a free throw by Cunningham off a technical foul on Bane – to extend the run to 16-4 and cut the deficit to 64-54 with just under seven minutes left in the third quarter.
Throughout, Ausar Thompson was everywhere: He finished with just four points but added 10 rebounds, six assists and four blocks. He and Paul Reed, who logged 10 minutes and helped the Pistons maintain momentum in the second half, delivered a defensive spark they needed to get back into the game.
Reed checked in with 3:55 remaining in the third and quickly chipped in four points and a pair of blocks. Orlando had used a 7-0 run, following Robinson's 3s, to extend the lead back to 17. But the Pistons trimmed their deficit to single digits with an 8-0 run while Reed was on the floor. At the end of the third, they trailed, 71-62.
“We’re down like 16, 15, I’m like, bro,” Reed said. “We’re not finna go out without a fight. That’s my mindset. I’m like, Bro, we’re gonna go out swinging. I’m going to be swinging, throwing punches myself. I’m just glad [Bickerstaff] was able to trust me and my teammates; they all know what I'm bringing to the table. They believe in me as well. That makes a big difference too.”
Smelling blood entering the fourth, Cunningham led the Pistons' shark-like charge with their first 10 points of the quarter to tie it at 72 with 7:35 to go. A pair of free throws by Tobias Harris, who finished with 22 points, gave the Pistons their first lead, 74-72, since a Banchero jumper made it 27-26 Magic 18 seconds into the second quarter.
The Magic, meanwhile, missed seven shots to end the third, and then their first 16 shots of the fourth. Two more free throws from Cunningham made it a 16-1 Pistons run to open the fourth. Harris added a midrange jumper, and then Cunningham hit a 3 at the 4:06 mark to extend the lead to eight, 83-75.
Thompson stuffed a dunk attempt by Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. to preserve a 24-1 run. Cunningham added two more free throws, and Robinson drew cheers from the Pistons bench with a 3-pointer with 3:10 left to push it to 88-75.
The Kia Center crowd finally lost its patience on a desperation 3-point attempt by Jalen Suggs; it missed everything but drew all the boos, the 16th straight miss before Banchero finally got free for a dunk the next possession.
“When we’re guarding the way that we’re supposed to be, it’s really hard for them to score on us,” Cunningham said. “It’s just been too many stretches throughout this series where we haven’t guarded the way we’re supposed to, so we’ve allowed them to have life and allowed them to move and get their shots and all that stuff. But whenever we really lock in on our defense, it’s tough for them to score on us and we know that.”
No longer their own worst enemy?
Many times this series, the Pistons have been their own worst enemy. They dropped Game 1 at home in a lethargic effort. In Games 3 and 4 in Orlando, they allowed the Magic to control the glass, battles that favored Detroit in the regular season.
It took 45 points from Cunningham to win Game 5. In Game 6, they needed an all-time defensive performance to tie the series. Now, the're home for Game 7 with a chance prove, despite the rocky journey to this point, they’re every bit the team that won 60 games.
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- Days ago: MOM = 3957 days ago & DAD = 612 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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