NBA Playoffs: Cunningham, Pistons beat Magic to avoid elimination
Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) goes to the basket between Orlando Magic forward Tristan da Silva (23) and forward Jamal Cain (8) during the first half in Game 5 of a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
DETROIT— Cade Cunningham scored a franchise playoff-record 45 points, including a step-back jumper with 32 seconds left, and the top-seeded Detroit Pistons beat the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic 116-109 on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their NBA first-round series to stave off elimination.
Orlando leads the series 3-2 and will get a second chance to advance at home on Friday night.
READ: NBA: No. 8 Magic push top seed Pistons to brink of elimination
The Magic fell to 0-10 in franchise history on the road in a Game 5.
"We've had a great season so far, none of us want it to end… dug ourselves a hole, now it's time to climb our way out. But, it's possible."
Cade's 45 kept the East's #1 seed's special season going! https://t.co/9jKenNj5sS pic.twitter.com/Tgcq82QwF3
— NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2026
Detroit never trailed and went ahead by 15 early in the final quarter. The Magic made one more run, pulling within three points on Paolo Banchero’s sixth 3-pointer with 1:09 left. Banchero matched Cunningham with 45 points, also a playoff career high — but he missed 7 of 12 free throws.
The Pistons are hoping to bounce back from the brink of elimination as they did against the Magic two-plus decades ago.
READ: NBA Playoffs: Sloppy Pistons one loss from being 7th top seed to lose in 1st round
Detroit’s comeback in 2003 as a No. 1 seed against eighth-seeded Orlando was the first of seven times NBA teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit this century. The Denver Nuggets were the last team to pull off the feat in 2020, when they became the first franchise in the league to do it twice in one postseason.
Magic forward Franz Wagner was sidelined with a strained right calf. He had 19 points in two-plus quarters before he departed late in the third quarter on Monday night and averaged nearly 17 points and 5.5 rebounds over the first four games of the series.
Cunningham was 13 of 23 from the field, making a playoff career-high five 3-pointers, and was 14 of 14 at the line in what proved to be the difference in a duel with Banchero, also a former No. 1 overall pick.
Tobias Harris scored 23 points for the Pistons, All-Star center Jalen Duren snapped out of a slump with 12 points and nine rebounds, and Duncan Robinson also scored 12.
Anthony Black had a playoff career-high 19 points, Desmond Bane scored 18 points and Jalen Suggs added 10 for the Magic.
The Pistons played with a sense of urgency at the start after being rusty or flat early in previous games.
Detroit led by 17 in the second quarter, but the Magic cut the deficit to six points by halftime. Orlando pulled within two points early in the third and Cunningham’s fifth 3-pointer late in the quarter helped the Pistons take an 89-79 lead into the fourth.
