Cade Cunningham propels Pistons to season-saving Game 5 win over Magic

Orlando leads the series 3-2 and will get a second chance to advance at home on Friday night.

The Magic fell to 0-10 in franchise history on the road in a Game 5.

Cade Cunningham, who scored a team-high 45 points, drives by Anthony Black during the Pistons’ 116-109 Game 5 win over the Magic on April 29, 2026 in Detroit. Getty Images

Detroit never trailed and went ahead by 15 early in the final quarter.

The Magic made one more run, pulling within three points on Paolo Banchero’s sixth 3-pointer with 1:09 left.

Banchero matched Cunningham with 45 points, also a playoff career-high — and missed 7 of 12 free throws.

The Pistons are hoping to bounce back from the brink of elimination as they did against the Magic two-plus decades ago.

Detroit’s comeback in 2003 as a No. 1 seed against eighth-seeded Orlando was the first of seven times NBA teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit this century.

Orlando’s Paolo Banchero, who scored a team-high 45 points, drives past Daniss Jenkins during the first half of the Pistons’ Game 5 win over the Magic. Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The Denver Nuggets were the last team to pull off the feat in 2020, when they became the first franchise in the league to do it twice in one postseason.