Detroit Pistons falter at home in playoff opener against the Orlando Magic, 112-101
With the bright lights of the NBA Playoffs upon the Motor City, the Detroit Pistons turned out to a packed Little Caesars Arena crowd with the stands packed with t-shirts for a home white-out against the Orlando Magic.
Although the fans showed up, the Pistons’ bench and most of Cade Cunningham’s supporting cast did not in what unfolded as a 112-101 loss to the Orlando Magic, which continued the franchise’s now-11-game slide at home. Cunningham did his best to mount a late comeback in the fourth quarter with a new career-best 39 points in the playoffs, but the All-Star’s effort was not met with the secondary scoring threat needed to lift Detroit over the Magic.
“I think we came out a little too, I don’t know, tight, lax, I don’t know what the word is," Cunningham said after the game. "Maybe both for some of us. Just didn’t come out with the right energy. We gave them life early on, then we had to deal with that for the rest of the game. We were better in stints, but you can’t dig a hole like that. That’s something that we’ve said a lot this year.”
Early on, the Magic took a lead in the first quarter that they would not relinquish for the rest of the contest. Jalen Suggs kickstarted the Orlando offense early on and hit three triples in what was a 16-point game for the fifth-year guard, but it was Franz Wagner who delivered the most pivotal performance of the night for the Magic.
With Cunningham making a charge to cut the Magic’s lead to single-digits in the fourth, Wagner took control of the game on the other end and used his size advantage to victimize the Pistons at the bucket. Wagner scored 11 of his 19 points in that final frame as the Michigan product capitalized on the mismatches the Magic offense helped create.
Outside of the Wagner-Cunningham duel during the final stanza, the Pistons were sorely lacking a steady secondary scorer to complement Cade’s efforts. First-time All-Star Jalen Duren finished the game with just eight points on four shots, and that production will not be enough for Detroit to sustain a lengthy run in the postseason. The lob threat to JD was virtually nonexistent against the Magic with Wendell Carter Jr. guarding the rim, and that’s an action type that the Pistons used with a high degree of efficiency during the regular season, so Detroit will need to figure out their plan to get the ball to Duren in the post both earlier and more often.
Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff stuck to an 11-man rotation against the Magic with Paul Reed as the odd man out, but the rest of the Detroit bench left much to be desired in terms of impact. The Pistons’ second unit is usually looked upon as a turnover-generating, hustle-rich group, but Paolo Banchero in particular had a lot of success against Detroit’s bench throughout the course of game one. Banchero finished the series opener with 23 points and nine rebounds on the night as the former No. 1 overall pick was able to get downhill, which is where he’s the most dangerous.
On top of those defensive struggles, the Pistons were beaten on the boards by a 45-39 margin, which is far from the norm for a Detroit squad that prides itself on winning in the margins. On top of that, the Pistons forced two fewer turnovers than Orlando was able to, so the Magic were successful in their ability to force Detroit outside of their identity.
As for the rest of the Pistons’ starting lineup, Cunningham did not have much help from a scoring perspective. Veteran forward Tobias Harris did contribute 17 points, but no one else from Detroit’s starting lineup broke into double figures. So, the Magic were able to absorb the one-way offensive traffic from Cunningham just enough to secure the game one victory.
The Pistons will have a couple days off to regroup before hosting the Magic for game two on Wednesday, April 22 at 7 pm.
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