The top-seeded Detroit Pistons were dead in the water on Friday night. Trailing 3-2 in their first-round series vs. the Orlando Magic, they were down 22 points at halftime and looked well on their way to a first-round elimination.
Not so fast.
Not only did the Pistons rally to win Game 6, but they did so by a score of 93-79. Going from down 22 to a 14-point win is wild. Credit the Pistons for the largest comeback win in franchise history, but a 36-point swing over a single half only happens if both teams cooperate.
The Magic, who once led this series 3-1, more than did their part by going in the absolute tank, coughing up the biggest second-half lead in a potential clinching game in history. They scored a truly pathetic 19 points in the second half. That is the lowest single-half output in a playoff game in the shot clock era (since 1955). Just look at these laughable numbers.
- Orlando missed 27 of its last 28 shots.
- That included 23 straight misses, the most in a playoff game this century.
- Orlando went 4 for 37 in the second half (2 of 18 from 3).
- That 10.8% shooting clip is the worst mark in a playoff half in the play-by-play era (since 1997).
- Orlando’s 79 points are the fewest in history for a team that scored 60-plus points in the first half.
The fourth quarter was a total embarrassment. The Magic scored eight points. Eight! They shot 1 for 20 and missed all 10 of their 3s. During that aforementioned run of 23 straight misses, 45 minutes went by. Yes, you read that correctly.
From Anthony Black’s 3-pointer with 4:14 to play in the third quarter to Paolo Banchero’s dunk with 2:24 to play in the fourth, 45 real-time minutes passed.
That is absolutely pathetic, but I will say, if any team is capable of going this cold for this long, the Magic fit the bill. There are times when nobody on that team can throw a fishhook in the ocean. Their offense is equal parts paint-drying competition and demolition derby. They are a collection of bad shooters who take bad shots.
But even for a team that can be as offensively inept as the Magic, to be outscored 24-19 over a second half by a single opposing player is pathetic. Indeed, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham scored as many points by himself in the fourth quarter alone as the Magic did as a team over the final 24 minutes. You can’t make that up.
Again, I do want to credit the Pistons for sticking with this game. They chipped away and chipped away. And when they had the deficit below double-digits heading into the fourth, they didn’t let the momentum slip. Cunningham cannot be defended by any single Magic player. He’s averaging 32-6-6 in this series and has 77 points on 7 of 12 3-point shooting over the last two elimination games.
Cunningham is carrying a Detroit offense that can’t shoot to save its life and is getting next to nothing from Jalen Duren, who might be costing himself a max contract this summer. Outside of Cunningham, Detroit’s playoff offense profiles just as pitifully as Orlando’s. Putting these two offenses on the same court against the elite defenses both teams play is a recipe for garbage-looking games.
But Orlando’s second half was another level of trash. On this stage, with this kind of opportunity in front of them to become just the sixth No. 8 seed in history to upset a No. 1 seed in the first round, this was an all-time flop job. And there are plenty of places to point the finger.
Let’s start with Paolo Banchero, Orlando’s supposed superstar who can theoretically match Cunningham’s outputs. He’s averaging 24.3 points per game in the series. Had 45 in Game 5. It’s not as though he’s laying a total egg. But even with that one outlier game of actual efficiency, he’s shooting 39% overall and 28% from 3 over the series.
On Friday, Banchero finished with 17 points on 4 for 20 shooting. He missed all nine of his 3-pointers.
Beyond Banchero, Jalen Suggs finished 1 for 10 on Friday. He’s at 30/26 shooting clips in this series and firing up 3s like he’s prime Klay Thompson. Orlando traded four first-round picks for Desmond Bane this summer in hopes that he could fill their shooting void, but he’s at 38% for the series. He’s made seven of his last 19 from 3. On this team, that basically makes him Stephen Curry.
Now add in the fact that Franz Wagner hasn’t played in the last two games and, until we hear otherwise, isn’t likely to play in Game 7, and you have an Orlando offense that can go, and did go in Game 6, truly anemic. It happened at the worst time on Friday, when for one half of basketball, just about everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong.
The only silver lining is they still have one last chance in Game 7 to make it right.
