Cade Cunningham sparks Pistons’ Game 2 rout, but questions linger

Cade Cunningham gave Detroit the jolt it needed, and the Pistons answered with a 98-83 Game 2 rout that tied the first-round series with Orlando at 1-1. The top-seeded Pistons turned a wire-to-wire loss in Game 1 into a forceful reset at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday, with Cunningham finishing at 27 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds.

Detroit’s decisive swing came in the third quarter, when the Pistons ripped off a 30-3 run to seize control, with another account charting the period as a 38-16 advantage overall. That burst did more than flip the score. It ended Detroit’s 11-game home playoff losing streak, the longest such skid in NBA history, and gave the No. 1 seed a timely burst of confidence before the series moved back to Orlando.

Still, the more important question is not whether Cunningham can produce a takeover game. That part was already visible in the way he repeatedly bent Orlando’s defense and set up teammates. The question is whether Detroit can sustain that level over a full series against a disciplined opponent. In Game 2, the Pistons finally got enough from the supporting cast, with Ausar Thompson and Javonte Green drawing praise for the kind of unsung work that often determines playoff games beyond the box score. Without that second layer, Cunningham’s shot creation can become too heavy a load.

Orlando has already shown one path to exposing Detroit. The Magic, the No. 8 seed, stunned the Pistons in Game 1 and forced the favorite to answer under real pressure. A contender with playoff patience will keep testing Detroit’s half-court offense, where possessions can still stall if Cunningham does not dictate the action, and it will look for the lapses in defensive discipline that can surface when the Pistons are not playing downhill. Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs remain the kind of matchups that can punish any breakdown.

The first Pistons-Magic postseason meeting since 2008 is now a series again, and Game 3 on Saturday, April 25, at 1 p.m. ET in Orlando will show whether Detroit’s Game 2 blast was a turning point or just a sharp response from a team still searching for a repeatable playoff structure.