The Detroit Pistons avoided elimination after surviving the Orlando Magic 116-109 in Game 5 of their first-round series on Wednesday night.
Cade Cunningham scored a franchise playoff record 45 points, including a step-back jumper with 32 seconds left.
Tobias Harris scored 23 points for the Pistons, Jalen Duren added 12 points and nine rebounds, and Duncan Robinson scored 12.
The Magic leads the series 3-2 and will get a second chance to advance at home on Friday night.
Orlando fell to 0-10 in franchise history on the road in a Game 5.
The Pistons never trailed and went ahead by 15 early in the final quarter, and the Magic made one more run, pulling within three points on Paolo Banchero’s sixth triple with 1:09 left.
Banchero matched Cunningham with 45 points to lead the Magic. Franz Wagner and Anthony Black scored points each. Desmond Bane scored 18 points, and Jalen Suggs added 10.
However, Orlando faced another setback as Wagner was sidelined with a strained right calf.
The Pistons led by 17 in the second quarter, but Orlando cut the deficit to six points by halftime.
Orlando pulled within two points early in the third, and Cunningham’s fifth 3-pointer late in the quarter helped the Pistons take an 89-79 lead into the fourth.
Meanwhile, Detroit’s comeback in 2003 as a No. 1 seed against eighth-seeded Orlando was the first of seven times NBA teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit this century.
The Pistons are hoping to bounce back from the brink of elimination as they did against the Magic two-plus decades ago.
