Pistons level series

Detroit beat Orlando 98-83 on Wednesday, April 22, to tie their Eastern Conference first-round series at one game apiece. (nba.com) Cade Cunningham led Detroit with 27 points, 11 assists and six rebounds, and the Pistons broke the game open by outscoring the Magic 38-16 in the third quarter. (nba.com) The win ended Detroit’s 11-game home playoff losing streak, which the Associated Press called the longest home postseason skid in NBA history. It was the franchise’s first home playoff victory since May 2008. (nba.com) (clickondetroit.com) Detroit entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the East, while Orlando arrived as No. 8 after taking Game 1 by an 11-point margin. Game 2 pulled the series back to even before the matchup shifts to Florida. (nba.com) That reset matters for a Pistons team trying to turn a regular-season rise into a real postseason run. It also puts pressure on Orlando to respond at home after scoring only 83 points in Game 2. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) The series resumes with Game 3 in Orlando on Saturday, April 25, at 1 p.m. Eastern, with Game 4 set for Monday, April 27. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) For Detroit, the immediate change was on defense and at the rim. The Pistons held Orlando to 16 points in the third quarter and finished off the kind of home playoff night the franchise had not delivered in 18 years. (nba.com) (wxyz.com) Now the series is down to a best-of-five, with Orlando hosting the next two games and Detroit carrying the result it had been chasing since 2008. (nba.com)