Cade Cunningham scored 30 points and dished out 10 assists as the host Detroit Pistons pulled away from the Orlando Magic, 135-116, Wednesday night.
Cunningham scored 19 of his points in the second half in the Pistons’ fourth victory in their last five games. Tobias Harris had 23 points, while Jalen Duren had 21 points and 12 rebounds. Duncan Robinson scored 15 points and Ausar Thompson notched a double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 24 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Franz Wagner had 22 points and seven rebounds, but the star forward duo missed 11 of 28 free throw attempts in Orlando’s fourth straight loss. Tristan da Silva had 15 points and Desmond Bane added 12.
The Magic led virtually the entire first half, but a 3-pointer by Thompson in the final minute gave Detroit a 65-64 halftime advantage. The Pistons outscored the Magic 36-28 in the second quarter.
Harris led three Detroit players in double figures with 13 points at halftime. Wagner paced Orlando with 14 points.
Neither team had a lead of more than three points in the opening minutes of the second half until Cunningham’s layup put Detroit ahead 77-73.
It was part of a 14-1 run by the Pistons, which gave the home team an 84-74 lead. Duren had five points and an assist in that span and Harris capped it with a dunk.
A 12-4 Pistons run later in the quarter pushed the lead to 98-82. Robinson scored five points during that stretch. Orlando finished the quarter with a 10-3 spurt to get within nine points.
A dominant run from Cunningham early in the fourth gave Detroit a comfortable lead. He made two three-point plays in 17 seconds, then grabbed a defensive rebound and scored again for a 114-97 lead. Javonte Green’s 3-pointer after a Magic timeout gave the Pistons a 20-point advantage.
Orlando was unable to seriously come back from this deficit.
–Field level media
