The Detroit Pistons went down 3-1 against the Orlando Magic after a 94-88 loss on Monday night
Although Detroit Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart turned in one of the premier rim-protecting performances in recent playoff memory on Monday night, the Eastern Conference’s top seed fell into a 3-1 hole to the Orlando Magic after a 94-88 loss on the road at the Kia Center.
In the single-digit defeat, Stewart had a modest scoring contribution with eight points off the bench spread across 17 minutes, but Beef Stew’s true impact came on the other end of the court. Stewart logged just as many blocks as he did points against the Magic, rejecting eight separate Orlando attempts and swatting every shot that he could manage to track down. If there was an errant floater in the Pistons lane, Stewart did his best to redirect the Orlando offering as far away from the bucket as possible.
“Just doing whatever I can to help with whatever minutes is given to me,” Stewart said after the game. “I just go out there and do my best to try and help the team.”
But despite Stewart’s dominant rim protection, the Pistons offense sputtered after halftime with just 36 points in the final two quarters. Even though Beef Stew did his best to thwart a plethora of Magic scoring attempts, it wasn’t enough to outweigh Detroit’s offensive futility on the opposite end.
The Pistons kept the score close and battled back and forth with the Magic, but Cade Cunningham forced the basketball into passing lanes that didn’t exist with eight turnovers to make a total of 17 turnovers in his last two games of playoff basketball. As expected, Detroit is 0-2 in those contests.
“They’re sending bodies at him,” Stewart said. “They’re trying to get the ball out of his hands in every way. We just have to do a better job obviously, continue to give him outlets and keep helping him out.”
As a result of Orlando's on-ball pressure over the past three games, Cunningham had the unfortunate honor of setting an NBA playoff record for gifting new possessions to the opposing team over a three-game stretch.
Magic forward Franz Wagner drew the responsibility of defending Cade Cunningham for much of the first half where Orlando initially took a 10-3 lead in the turnover battle. From there, Cunningham went on to score 25 points with nine rebounds and six assists, but the floor general’s lack of care for the rock combined with another underwhelming 12-point performance from Jalen Duren was a mountain too tall for the Pistons to climb.
“It was a hump just trying to get over,” Stewart said. “Everytime it was right there, we kept hurting ourselves either with turnovers or unnecessary fouls, so a lot of that was on us.”
Stewart and the Pistons know that they need to stop shooting themselves in the foot with unforced errors if they want to survive in the postseason. Tomorrow night’s game represented a win-or-go-home situation for Detroit, and any outcome less than a victory would spell a brutal deflation from a promising and hope-filled season of Pistons basketball.
“Backs against the wall,” Stewart said. “Watcha going to do? You’re going to fight, you’ve got to fight until the end. So, let’s get back to the crib, protect the crib and take it one game at a time. The series is not over, and we’re going to keep fighting.”
The Pistons have today off before hosting the Magic for a vital game five at Little Caesars Arena with tip-off set for 7 pm on Wednesday, April 29.
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.