Pistons beat Magic 116-109 to stay alive

Detroit’s season did not end on Wednesday night. That was the whole point — and Cade Cunningham made sure of it. The Pistons beat the Magic 116-109 (espn.com) matchup back to Florida for Game 6 on Friday. Cunningham was the story, but not in a vague “star player showed up” way. He put up 45 po(espn.com)arted tilting toward panic. (espn.com) ### Why was(usnews.com)ure flips back onto Orlando, which now has to close the series at home instead of celebrating the upset on the road. That is a huge emotional difference, especially in a series that has been tighter than the seeding suggested. (usnews.com) ### What did Cunningham actually do? He scored 45, which was both a career playoff high (espn.com)k jumper with 32 seconds left that helped seal the game. Detroit needed shot creation all night, and Cunningham basically served as the release valve every time Orlando made a push. The raw total matters, but the timing mattered just as much. (espn.com) ### Was Orlando bad, or was Detroit just better? Mostly the second one. Orlan(usnews.com)young stars. The difference was that Detroit built an early cushion, led 38-26 after the first quarter, and kept finding counters when Orlando threatened to turn the game. (espn.com) ### Where did the game really turn? The first quarter gave Detroit room to breathe, but the third quarter was the stabilizer. Orlando cut the lead to two early(espn.com)ining the worst. Cunningham hit his fifth 3-pointer late in the third, and Detroit carried an 89-79 lead into the fourth. Basically, that was the reset. The Pistons never let the game fully slip into coin-flip territory after that. (espn.com) ### Why does the seeding matter here? Because this result is awkward for both teams in different ways. Detroit won(espn.com)ct in Game 5 is not where a top seed wants to be. But Orlando, as the lower seed, just missed its cleanest chance to finish the upset. A series can turn on that kind of missed closing window. (espn.com) ### Is this series part of a bigger playoff pattern? Yes — and it is a weird one. Entering Thursday, only the Thunder and Spurs had advanced, and Detroit’s win helped push six first-round series to a(espn.com)was not just one team surviving. It fit a broader first round where almost nobody is getting an easy exit. (cbssports.com) ### What should you watch in Game 6? Whether Orlando can recover from letting a closeout chance slip, and whether Detroit can get enough help around Cunningham again. Stars can w(espn.com)still lead the series, but now they have to prove Game 5 was a detour, not the start of a collapse. (usnews.com) ### Bottom line Detroit bought itself another night — and maybe something bigger. Cunningham turned an elimination game into a pressure test for Orlando, and now the series finally feels unstable. (espn.com)