Pistons milestone win
- The Detroit Pistons recorded their first home playoff win since 2008 earlier in this Round 1 series. (cbssports.com) - That win is already being highlighted as a key early narrative in the first round. (cbssports.com) - Detroit’s home success is shifting momentum and attention onto the Pistons as the series continues. (cbssports.com)
Detroit ended an 18-year wait at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday, beating Orlando 98-83 in Game 2 for its first home playoff win since May 26, 2008. (usnews.com) Cade Cunningham led Detroit with 27 points, 11 assists and six rebounds as the Pistons evened the first-round series with the Magic at 1-1. (usnews.com) The game turned in the third quarter, when Detroit outscored Orlando 38-16 after the teams were tied 46-46 at halftime. The Pistons finished with 11 blocks and held the Magic to a season-low 83 points. (usnews.com; nba.com) The win snapped an 11-game home playoff losing streak, which the Associated Press called the longest home postseason skid in National Basketball Association history. Detroit had dropped every home playoff game since that 2008 Eastern Conference finals run. (usnews.com) That drought had become part of the franchise’s recent playoff story even after Detroit returned to the postseason. The Pistons won playoff games on the road last year, but they still had not won one in Detroit until Wednesday night. (usatoday.com; heavy.com) The result also changed the shape of the series. Instead of Orlando taking a 2-0 lead out of Detroit, the matchup now shifts to Florida tied 1-1, with Game 3 scheduled for Saturday, April 25. (usnews.com; nba.com; sports.yahoo.com) Detroit’s formula in Game 2 was simple and familiar: Cunningham created offense, while Tobias Harris scored 16 points, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson added 11 each, and five Pistons finished in double figures. Orlando’s top scorers, Jalen Suggs and Paolo Banchero, combined to miss 21 of 35 shots. (usnews.com) For a franchise that has not advanced past the first round in 18 years, the home win did not end the series. It did end one of the league’s longest-running playoff drought markers, and it sent Detroit to Orlando with the split it needed. (usnews.com)
