The Detroit Pistons put together a defensive performance for the ages in the second half of their 93-79 win over the Orlando Magic on Friday night
On Friday night, the Detroit Pistons found themselves on the very brink of elimination when they hit halftime down by 22 points to the Orlando Magic on the road during game six.
Just from that foundational predicament, the Pistons had a lot of work to do if they wished to remain in the postseason with any chance of advancing to the second round, but Detroit responded with a stunning defensive performance in the second half that laid the groundwork for their 93-79 victory over the Magic to force a pivotal game seven.
During halftime, the Pistons needed a clear jolt to regain their form after falling behind early against the Magic in their own territory. According to All-Star point guard Cade Cunningham, Detroit’s jolt came from two individuals during the mid-game break: Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart.
“It was quiet for a little bit,” Cunningham said regarding halftime. “JD and Stew talking to us. We’re going to keep fighting, go down swinging, all that stuff. But the message was we still believe we can get back in the game and win the game. It was just going to be by chipping away at it, cutting it down to 11, cutting it down to six then taking a lead and all that stuff can happen fast in the game. So, just trusting our defense and working our way back into it, but it took a group effort and everybody believing in that same goal. Everybody in the locker room did, and I think that’s what allowed us to do what he did tonight.”
After the Pistons were able to regroup, Cunningham and his teammates approached the second half with a sense of urgency. Detroit began forcing turnovers and contesting more shots at the three-point line, and the impact of their defensive tenacity was immediate. In fact, Orlando scored just 19 points in 24 minutes of gametime in the second half with the Pistons’ defense firing on all cylinders. During the third quarter, the Pistons began chipping away at Orlando’s lead before eventually completing the 24-point comeback in earnest and jumping ahead for good during the fourth quarter.
“Fight to see another day, never say die mentality,” Cunningham said. “That’s who we are. We weren’t going to lay down for anything, you know? We went into the locker room, obviously we had a big hill to climb, but it was still a lot of confidence in the room that we were going to do it together and we were going to find a way out.”
As the Pistons put the finishing touches on their franchise record playoff comeback, Cunningham kept hitting shot after shot for Detroit in the fourth quarter. In fact, Cunningham totalled 20 points in the final frame, which is precisely the type of clutch performance that is expected of franchise stars.
“Just digging deep, having your back against the wall really shows you who you are,” Cunningham said. “There’s been a lot of adversity so far in this series, and I think we’ve learned a lot about who we are as a team and individually what we’re made out of. It’s been a fun series. We want to get back to the crib and handle our business at home.”
At one point during the fourth quarter, the Magic missed 23 consecutive field goal attempts on Friday night, which helps underscore the level of offensive futility coming from Orlando’s end of the matchup last night. During that timeframe, the Pistons substituted Paul Reed into the game when Duren was forced to the locker room briefly for injury treatment, and B-Ball Paul began impacting the game in the way that only B-Ball Paul can.
As a dose of instant momentum for the Motown squad, Reed helped grab a few offensive boards to give the Pistons second-chance opportunities, and that type of determination emanated from Reed over to the rest of his teammates during a crucial second half in game six.
“It’s really incredible how hard he works,” Cunningham said of Reed. “He works harder than anybody you’ll find, just as hard as the hardest workers you know. Anytime his number is called, he’s ready to go. He comes right out there and he imposes himself on the game. I don’t think there’s any situation basketball-wise where he’s not going to bring some type of productivity to the floor. Tonight, his name was called. He comes out there, gets a couple offensive rebounds to get us going, get us extra possessions. He scores the ball for us. He makes all his adjustments defensively or his rotations defensively. He just does a lot, and he’s always done that for us. It’s like a safety blanket that we always have. We have two of the best bigs in front of him that you can have. We have a great rotation of bigs, and he just finds himself as the third one. But to have that much production out of the third big like that, it’s amazing. He’s won us so many games with that type of intensity and the work that he has, so we’re lucky to have him. Tonight was another night that he got us back in that game, and we won a big game because of him.”
During the regular season, Bickerstaff called Reed the best third-string center in the NBA, so there seems to be a consensus in the Pistons’ building that B-Ball Paul brings a wealth of value to the top seed in the East. But now, Detroit will have to return to Little Caesars Arena for a chance to complete an improbable 3-1 comeback on Sunday afternoon. Tip-off for game seven is scheduled for 3:30 pm on ABC.
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