Cunningham and Harris power Pistons past Magic in a wire-to-wire surge

Detroit takes control with a second-quarter avalanche

For one half, this looked like the kind of playoff game that might go either way. Orlando hangs around early, even nudging in front by four, and the opening 24 minutes feature 17 lead changes as Paolo Banchero keeps finding answers and Cade Cunningham keeps Detroit organized. But the Pistons flip the game in the second quarter with a 23-0 style punch of momentum, and from there the night belongs to Detroit. By halftime, the Pistons have turned a one-possession battle into a 60-49 lead, and the building feels the shift.

The turning point is the second-quarter run that starts at 38-40 and ends at 58-47, capped by D. Robinson's 8-foot driving floating bank jump shot. That stretch is the game in miniature: Cunningham presses the action, Detroit gets clean looks, and Orlando suddenly has to chase the play instead of dictating it. Then the Pistons keep adding layers. Jalen Duren keeps rolling into space, Tobias Harris starts hitting from everywhere, and the Magic never fully recover from the damage. Orlando's early efficiency vanishes as Detroit's offense settles in and the crowd senses a separation coming.

Cunningham is the engine and the tone-setter. He finishes with 32 points and 12 assists in 39 minutes, shooting 56% and repeatedly bending Orlando's defense with his pace and vision. The playmaking shows up in the biggest possessions: Duren's alley-oop layup late in the fourth comes off Cunningham's 11th assist, and his 12th feeds Duncan Robinson for a right-wing three that pushes the Pistons to 108-88. That kind of table-setting is what made the game feel lopsided even before the final buzzer. Cade never lets Orlando string stops together long enough to make a push.

Harris, though, is the scoring separator. He drops 30 points in 36 minutes, hitting five threes and shooting 61% from the field. His pull-up game and spot-up work stretch the floor so far that Orlando's help defense has no clean answer. When he drills a three at 3:23 of the fourth to make it 105-86, that's the final gasp of any Magic hope. Detroit also gets a huge two-way night from Duren, who posts 15 points and 15 rebounds while finishing around the rim with authority. The alley-oop dunk at 2:06 of the fourth, again off Harris, is the exclamation point on a night where Detroit controls the paint and the glass.

Orlando never stops competing, and Banchero puts up a monster: 38 points, nine rebounds, six assists in 42 minutes. He scores in bunches, including a tip layup at 4:22 of the fourth that briefly slows Detroit's momentum, but the Magic can't match the Pistons' shot-making after the break. Anthony Black's five steals and Jalen Suggs' four steals show the activity level, yet Detroit plays through the pressure, gets cleaner looks, and punishes mistakes. Once the Pistons build the lead to 25, the rest is managing the finish, with Duncan Robinson and Chaz Lanier helping close the door.

The broader meaning is simple: Detroit's offense looks dangerous when Cunningham is steering it and Harris is punishing mismatches. The Pistons don't just win this one — they take command of it, and that matters in a postseason atmosphere where response matters as much as talent. Orlando gets a huge star line from Banchero, but the Magic leave with a reminder that great individual production isn't enough when the other team is stringing together runs, making threes, and finishing possessions at the rim. Detroit carries momentum forward, and if this balance between Cade's playmaking, Harris' scoring, and Duren's physicality holds, the Pistons become a very uncomfortable matchup.