Cade Cunningham scores 107 in Games 5–7 to power Pistons' comeback from a 3–1 series hole
- Cade Cunningham dragged Detroit past Orlando in Games 5 through 7, scoring 45, 32, and 32 as the Pistons erased a 3-1 hole. - Detroit won Game 7, 116-94, after surviving a 24-point Game 6 deficit; Cunningham’s 109 total series points after Game 4 became the run. - The comeback sent Detroit into the East semifinals against Cleveland and gave the Pistons their first series win since 2008.
Detroit’s comeback was real — and Cade Cunningham was the reason it stopped feeling fluky. Down 3-1 to Orlando, the Pistons needed three straight wins just to stay alive. Cunningham answered with 45 points in Game 5, then 32 in Game 6, then 32 more in Game 7 as Detroit took the series 4-3 and moved on to face Cleveland in the Eastern Conference semifinals. ### What actually changed after 3-1? The simple version is that Detroit’s best player stopped letting the series drift. Orlando had turned the matchup into a grind, and the Pistons looked shaky for long stretches. Then Cunningham put up a franchise playoff-record 45 in Game 5 to keep the season alive, followed it with 32 in Game 6, and closed across the last three games — not 107 — and every one of them came with elimination hanging over Detroit. ### Why does the number matter? Because this was not one heater in one game. It was three straight must-win games, each with a different shape. Game 5 was pure shot-making. Game 6 was rescue work after Detroit fell behind by 24. Game 7 was control — scoring, playmaking, tempo, all of it. When a star can win you a shootout, a comeback, and a closeout, that is when a streak becomes a playoff identity. ### Was Game 6 the hinge? Absolutely. Detroit was down 60-38 at halftime in Orlando and looked cooked. Then the Magic basically stopped scoring. The Pistons won 93-79, and Cunningham poured in 32, with 19 of them in the fourth quarter. Orlando scored ly pull this off.” ### How convincing was Game 7? More convincing than the final “comeback” label suggests. Detroit did not just survive. It won 116-94 at home. Cunningham had 32 and 12 assists, Tobias Harris added 30, and Jalen Duren finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Orlando, meanwhile, ran out of offense late in the series — just 113 points over the final six quarters of Games 6 and 7 combined. ### Why is this bigger than one round? Because Detroit had not won a playoff series since 2008. This is the part that makes the run land. The Pistons were the East’s No. 1 seed, so on paper they were supposed to advance. But going down 3-1 turned the season into a credibility test. Coming back from that hole made them only the 15th team in NBA history to do it. ### What comes next? Cleveland. The semifinal series opened Tuesday, May 5, with Detroit holding home court as the No. 1 seed. That means Cunningham’s binge is no longer just a first-round curiosity. It now sets the tone for whether the Pistons are merely a feel-good survivor or an actual Finals threat. Players get judged differently in May. Not by averages — by whether they can bend a series when the season is slipping away
