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Full Noise by SN
The Live Sport Bible is here!Pistons power to first playoff series win in 18 years
AP • May 4th, 2026 12:04 pm
Detroit have come from 3-1 down in the series to eliminate Orlando and progress in the NBA playoffs | Photo: AP
Cade Cunningham had 32 points and 12 assists, Tobias Harris added 30 points and Detroit beat Orlando 116-94 in Game 7 to win a playoff series for the first time in nearly two decades.
Cunningham averaged 32.4 points for the Pistons, who last won a post-season series by beating the Magic in the second round in 2008. Detroit advance to play the winner of Sunday's (Monday AEST) other Game 7 between Cleveland and Toronto.
The Pistons became the 15th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit and the second in the last two nights, after Philadelphia came back to eliminate Boston.
Detroit trailed by 24 points in Game 6 in Orlando before rallying to take the series at home. The Magic only scored 113 points in the final six quarters of the series — an average of 18.8 per period.
Cunningham and Harris became the first Pistons teammates to score 30 points in a playoff game since 1977.
Paolo Banchero scored 38 for Orlando.
Each team needed a second scoring option at Little Caesars Arena in Michigan. Cunningham had carried Detroit while Banchero was the Magic's only weapon after Franz Wagner was injured in Game 4.
Harris filled that role for the Pistons, but Orlando only had one other player reach double figures in the first three quarters, as Desmond Bane had 10.
Harris scored 17 points in the second period as Detroit finished the half on a 9-2 run to take a 60-49 lead.
The Pistons' surge continued into the second half, as they opened the third quarter with a 11-2 run to go up 71-51. Nine of the points came from Cunningham and Harris.
Daniss Jenkins hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give Detroit a 83-64 lead going into the fourth, and the Magic never threatened down the stretch.
