\n<\/p>\n
Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero each poured in 45 points in a classic head-to-head battle in Game 5.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n The circumstances surrounding Game 6 in any best-of-seven series are always the same, which means wildly divergent. One team wants nothing to do with a Game 7, while the other will do anything to force one.<\/p>\n When you factor in home court, injuries and whatever momentum exists, the penultimate games can pack just as much urgency and drama as Game 7.<\/p>\n Does Orlando dare squander this opportunity<\/a> on its floor at the Kia Center Friday night\u00a0(7 p.m. ET, Prime Video<\/a><\/b>)? Can the Pistons essentially win two games in one, both by scoring more points and by deflating the Magic a bit over the idea of getting back on a plane to Detroit? It\u2019s pretty well-known that only 13 teams in NBA playoff history have ever climbed out of a 3-1 hole \u2013 Orlando has zero interest in getting within 48 minutes of that possibility.<\/p>\n The most recent game in this series \u2013 more evenly matched than your typical No. 1 vs. No. 8 matchup \u2013 was as entertaining as it was competitive, with Detroit\u2019s Cade Cunningham and Orlando\u2019s Paolo Banchero each scoring 45 points en route to the Pistons\u2019 116-109 victory<\/a>. Cunningham and his teammates, facing elimination again, know that beating the Magic once more could reset the matchup, maintain their roll and restore the homecourt edge they worked all season to snag.<\/p>\n Here are three things to watch in Game 6:<\/p>\n Largely expressionless going up and down the floor, dissecting defenses, finding teammates for his passes or seeking his own shots, Cunningham takes cool to another level. At a time of year when many NBA players protest a bit too much about not feeling the pressure of the playoffs, Cunningham went the other way, talking about how much he welcomes it.<\/p>\n Feels fortunate to face it, in fact.<\/p>\n \u201c[It\u2019s] just opportunity,\u201d the Pistons playmaker said after his 45-point performance in Game 5 on Wednesday save his team\u2019s postseason.<\/p>\n \u201cNot everybody\u2019s blessed with the opportunity to have pressure. To have things on the line like that, a lot of times I feel undeserving of [what] great moments I get to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n Catch that?\u00a0Get to.<\/i> That tells us how differently Cunningham is\u00a0wired and\u00a0explains\u00a0his ability to put up the most points scored in a playoff game in\u00a0Pistons\u00a0franchise history. Hall of Famer Dave Bing scored 44 in a 1968\u00a0game,\u00a0one more than Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas got in a 1988 contest.<\/p>\n Cunningham carried Detroit through\u00a0three quarters with 37 points but only one assist. In the fourth, having sufficiently softened up the Magic\u2019s defense, he spread the wealth with four assists\u00a0while taking four shots himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not one of those guys who runs around taking a lot,\u201d Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. \u201cHe understood what was in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Understands again heading into Game 6.<\/p>\n Magic forward Franz Wagner suffered a strained right calf in the second half of Game 4, producing at both ends \u2013 19 points before his injury and strong defense on Cunningham, who missed 16 of his 23 shots and was a minus-7 in the Pistons loss.<\/p>\n But Wagner was in a walking boot and street clothes for Game 5, and he is out for Game 6<\/a>. Calf injuries are seen these days as precursors to torn Achilles tendons, so medical staff don\u2019t push speedy recoveries even in the postseason.<\/p>\n Which means Orlando again must guard Cunningham with someone (or someones) not as big and as mobile as Wagner. Jamal Cain is slender, Jalen Suggs gives up three inches and 15 pounds and other Magic options can stick with Cunningham\u2019s quickness. Banchero might be a good choice, except he has so much offensive responsibility that Orlando can\u2019t afford to let him get worn out (or in foul trouble) chasing Cunningham.<\/p>\n Magic coach Jamahl Mosley may deploy a defense-by-committee approach, hoping a series of change-of-pace matchups can keep Cunningham adjusting.<\/p>\n Remember Al Pacino\u2019s football coach character in \u201cAny Given Sunday,\u201d giving his impassioned locker room speech about football as a game of\u00a0inches<\/a>? \u201cThe inches we need are everywhere around us.\u201d<\/p>\n The points the Pistons and Magic need have been sitting right there at the foul line. Too many wasted.<\/p>\n In six games, the Magic\u00a0have outscored\u00a0the Pistons 511-508. But Detroit has missed 38 free throws, Orlando\u00a044.\u00a0That includes\u00a0the Magic\u2019s\u00a014-of-30 misfiring while losing Game 5 by seven points.<\/p>\n Orlando ranked eighth in the regular season, shooting 80.1% from the foul line, but is last among the playoff teams at 70.3%. Detroit wasn\u2019t very good in the season (27th, 76.3%) or now (12th, 74.5%).<\/p>\n Some mix of fatigue, jitters and fading concentration is the usual culprit when players too often miss shots they\u2019ve practiced hundreds of thousands of times. The first team to lock in could apply serious pressure to the other.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\n<\/div>\n Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero each poured in 45 points in a classic head-to-head battle in Game 5. \u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App The circumstances surrounding Game 6 in any best-of-seven series are always the same, which means wildly divergent. One team wants nothing to do with a Game 7, while the other will do anything … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3-things-to-watch-in-Pistons-Magic-Game-6.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29354,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29352\/revisions\/29354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n1. Cunningham is wired differently<\/h3>\n
\n2. Plugging Wagner\u2019s spot<\/h3>\n
\n3. The points left on the table<\/h3>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"