The top-seeded Detroit Pistons are quietly in a lot of trouble. Not just because they are down 2-1 in their series against the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic, but because in those two losses Orlando has looked like the superior team. The Magic have looked faster, tougher, and like they have the better roster of shooters most nights. Detroit essentially needs to find a way to blow the Magic out in order to beat them, because if it's close it seems to be tilting in Orlando's favor. Not one person could've predicted that outcome.
Not even a full month ago the Magic looked dead in the water, like the team was ready to full-on mutiny against its coaching staff. Suddenly they are all healthy at the right time and Orlando looks to be realizing the potential they've shown in flashes over the past couple seasons. As for the Pistons, well, they're the top seed for the first time since 2007, and here they are, lead by burgeoning superstar Cade Cunningham—being taken by surprise by the Magic, mainly thanks to role players who have come alive for Orlando and died on the vine for Detroit.
In Orlando's 112-105 Game 3 win, Orlando's Desmond Bane played the hero, scoring 25 points, including seven three-pointers, while Wendell Carter, Jr added another 14 points and 17 (!) rebounds. Although Detroit stormed back into the game in the third quarter, and even clawed to a 105-104 lead with 2:52 to play, Orlando's stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner sealed the victory, assisting each other on key late buckets and scoring seven of the game's final eight points between them.
Similar to Game 1, Orlando seems to be using the Pistons' superpowers against them, playing just as tough if not tougher and just as fast if not faster. It also doesn't help that Detroit's non-Cunningham stars have struggled in the series: Jalen Duren, who averaged nearly 20 points a game this season, has scored 27 total points through three games, including eight on 10 shots in Game 3. It's still too early to say that the Pistons can't win this series—I still lean toward Detroit pulling this one out—but it's clearly a series that will go long, and the Magic seem best equipped to pull off the upset against a team built like these Pistons. At some point, Detroit will have to win a dogfight against the Magic and not just hope to blow them out each time. Game 4 on Monday night is going to tell us a lot about what Detroit is made of, and how this series can still go.
