The Orlando Magic picked up a huge 112-101 Game 1 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday thanks to impressive defense.
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Orlando scored first and kept at least a small advantage for the entire matchup. As the first half rolled on, Orlando’s defense took the Pistons out of their character.
Detroit recovered by outscoring the Magic by four in the second quarter, but they couldn’t take the lead.
In the final ten minutes, Cade Cunningham and the Pistons tried to pull together a scoring run to make a comeback, but the Magic continued to respond with buckets of their own.
Despite a 39-point performance from Cunningham, the Magic secured a wire-to-wire victory. Tobias Harris was the only other Piston in double digits with 17 points.
For the Magic, a more balanced approach proved to be effective. Paolo Banchero finished with 23 points and nine rebounds on 8-of-15 shooting while Franz Wagner had 19 points, five rebounds and four assists.
James Parker contributed to this story.
