Cade Cunningham (2), de los Pistons de Detroit, discute una acción con el entrenador del equipo, J.B. Bickerstaff, izquierda, durante la primera mitad del juego 1 de la serie de postemporada de la NBA de primera ronda, el domingo 19 de abril de 2026, en Detroit. (AP Foto/Duane Burleson)
DETROIT — The Detroit Pistons opened the NBA playoffs with a flop.
Detroit went into the postseason because the top-seeded team within the Eastern Conference, openly talking about exceeding modest expectations and winning the franchise’s fourth championship.
If the Pistons don’t play higher than they did in a 112-101 loss to Orlando on Sunday night in Game 1, they may get knocked out in the primary round again.
READ: NBA: Paolo Banchero leads Magic upset of Pistons in Game 1
“We’re sick about losing this one,” Cade Cunningham said after scoring a playoff career-high 39 points and never getting much help from his teammates. “It’s an extended series.”
Detroit, which has lost an NBA-record 11 straight home postseason games, hosts the Magic again on Wednesday night.
The Pistons haven’t won a house playoff game since 2008, which can also be the last yr they advanced within the playoffs.
They were sluggish early against the Magic and had a built-in excuse, playing for the primary time in every week.
“We didn’t come out with the appropriate energy,” Cunningham said.
READ: NBA: Pistons clinch top seed in Eastern Conference
They were flat early within the third quarter, too, and that’s tougher to elucidate.
“We were chasing all of them night,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We made some runs to get ourselves back within the ballgame.”
The Magic, meanwhile, looked able to play just two nights after routing Charlotte in an elimination game to earn a spot within the playoffs.
“They’ve been off and we’ve found just a little little bit of a rhythm,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “That all the time plays an element in it.”
Detroit never had the lead.
READ: NBA: Detroit Pistons end long stretch of futility
Cunningham made a 3-pointer to drag the Pistons right into a tie midway through the third quarter, but they wasted the chance by giving up 14 of the subsequent 17 points and couldn’t get well.
Detroit finished with a season-low 31 baskets, connecting on just 40% of its shots. Tobias Harris scored 17 points because the only double-digit scorer aside from Cunningham, but he missed 10 of 15 shots.
All-Star Jalen Duren, who averaged nearly 20 points within the regular season, was limited to 4 shots and eight points.
“They packed the paint,” Bickerstaff said. “They’re going to place a bunch of bodies within the paint to attempt to make it difficult on him.”