Cade Cunningham took control in Detroit, steering the Pistons to a 98-83 win over the Orlando Magic at Little Caesars Arena yesterday and squaring the Eastern first-round series at 1-1. A tight game blew open after halftime as Detroit unleashed a ferocious third quarter and leaned on a physical, swarming defense. The matchup now shifts back to Orlando for Game 3 on Saturday afternoon.
Pistons' Third-Quarter Surge Flipped The Script
Detroit's 98-83 win, which evened the series, pivoted on a blistering 38-16 third quarter that turned a nail-biter into a comfortable finish, according to the official box score on NBA.com. The Pistons turned sharp help defense into blocks and second-chance chances, and the game sheet shows they piled up 11 blocks while owning the paint, per Fox Sports.
Cunningham And Company
Cade Cunningham led Detroit's charge with 27 points, while Jalen Suggs paced Orlando with 19 and Paolo Banchero added 18, according to the box score on CBS Sports. After a sluggish start, the Pistons got timely buckets from veterans and role players, and that shared workload showed up when they blew the game open in the decisive third quarter.
What Went Wrong For Orlando
The Magic went ice-cold at exactly the wrong moment, shooting in the low 30s for the night and hitting just 5 of 17 shots in the third quarter, a stretch the Orlando Sentinel reports Detroit punished with pressure and length on the perimeter plus bruising play inside. Those empty trips and turnovers morphed into easy Pistons points, leaving Orlando searching for answers before the series returns to the Kia Center.
What’s Next
Game 3 is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Kia Center in Orlando, according to the event listing on Ticketmaster. The series now feels like a chess match of adjustments: Detroit rediscovered its defensive identity at home, and Orlando will try to use the home crowd to tilt the momentum back in its favor.
After two wildly different halves of basketball, this matchup looks wide open, with both teams facing clear fixes and a quick turnaround before Saturday's matinee.
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