The Orlando Magic blew a 17-point fourth-quarter lead before rallying to beat the Detroit Pistons 113-105 for a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series on Saturday.
Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane each scored 25 points, Franz Wagner 17, Jalen Suggs 15, and Wendell Carter Jr added 14 points and 17 rebounds.
Banchero had an almost triple-double of 12 additional rebounds and nine assists.
On the other hand, Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 27 points, while Tobias Harris had 23 points, but not enough to hold on.
Detroit was trailing 96-79 with 8:34 left, but rallied to a 26-8 burst over the next six minutes to grab the lead.
Meanwhile, it is the 13th time since 1984, when the NBA went to the 16-team format, that a No. 8 seed has taken a 2-1 lead in a first-round series over a No. 1 seed.
With the previous 12, five of them finished off the upset. Those teams: Miami in 2023, Philadelphia in 2012, Memphis in 2011, Golden State in 2007, and New York in 1999. And that doesn’t include Denver’s upset of Seattle in 1994, the first 8-over-1 series win in NBA history.
The Magic had to win an elimination game at home just over a week ago to escape the play-in tournament; they are trying to be the next name on that list.
The Pistons came back as Cunningham and Harris led the run.
Cunningham made a free throw with 2:52 left to give Detroit its first lead of the second half, but the Magic outscored the Pistons 9-0 the rest of the way.
Orlando’s lead at halftime was 61-54, the last two of those points coming after Stewart fouled Carter with one-tenth of a second left.
With the heat of the clash, Stewart was also whistled for a Flagrant 1 against Suggs in the second quarter, and Defensive Player of the Year finalist Ausar Thompson was called for a flagrant in the third against Anthony Black.
Game 4 is Monday night in Orlando.
