Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero was clear and concise about what his team needs to do in order to succeed against the Detroit Pistons
With tip-off for the Detroit Pistons’ playoff journey looming later tonight at 6:30 pm, the Motor City squad will be going up against a highly-touted young star in Paolo Banchero who’s well acquainted with his first round adversaries.
During the regular season, the Pistons squared off with Banchero on four separate occasions, and the Magic forward was his team’s leading scorer in three such games with Desmond Bane breaking up that run with a 37-point outing of his own. Detroit fared 2-2 against Banchero and the Magic prior to the postseason, and the former No. 1 pick will likely draw the bulk of Detroit's defensive attention during the series.
But at 6-10 and 250 lbs., Banchero has dealt with on-ball pressure all season long as Orlando’s first playmaking option, and the Duke product knows how he intends to handle that responsibility against a physical Pistons defense.
“We’ve got to win on the road to win this series,” Banchero said. “That’s something that I think we all understand and I understand, so I think stepping into Detroit for these first two games, we’ve got to be focused. We’ve got to win a game on the road. We haven’t in the past two years in the playoffs, so if we want to get over the hump, it’s going to take winning on the road to do it. We’ve got to be extra focused and together to get that done.”
From a historical standpoint, the Magic have lost three consecutive playoff series against the Pistons, but these two teams are far removed from the Detroit and Orlando matchups of the past. Unlike previous postseason clashes, the Pistons have All-Star starter Cade Cunningham at the helm as the squad embarks on the playoffs as the one seed in the East, so the history books fail to account for the matchups between Cunningham, Banchero and their teammates that are about to unfold.
Ahead of tonight’s playoff contest, Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley spoke about how he plans to prepare his team for battle against the top seed in the East with two road games right off the bat.
“The number one priority in a lot of ways is Cade Cunningham,” Mosley said. “That is the priority of that team. Now, they’re a very tightly-knit, together team. They defend at a high clip. They turn you over and make it tough to score, so we’ve got to make sure we’re doing all the little things. Just like in this game against them, that will be a lot of game-planning, a lot of film, a lot of walkthroughs in the short time that we have, but our guys will be prepared.”
On the other side of the coaching matchup, J.B. Bickerstaff stressed that he expects both the Pistons and the Magic to put their most physical foot forward, so the two squads will be ready for a battle when the ball is thrown into the air later tonight at Little Caesars Arena.
For more information on the latest Detroit Pistons team or player news, follow @EricJRutter on X for continued basketball coverage. Also be sure to look up Roundtable - Michigan Men Media on Facebook for continued social media coverage of all the sporting teams in the Mitten.