Cade Cunningham scored a franchise-playoff-record 45 points while dueling against Paolo Banchero down the stretch, and the Detroit Pistons avoided elimination by beating the Orlando Magic 116-109 in Wednesday’s Game 5.

Orlando, who played without Franz Wagner due to a calf strain, will have another chance to close out the series in Friday’s Game 6 in Orlando.

The Magic trailed by double digits for most of the fourth quarter, but a persistent Orlando team kept chipping away. Detroit’s lead was cut to 112-109 with 1:09 remaining on a Banchero 3-pointer.

The crowd at Little Caesars Arena grew nervous when Tobias Harris missed a jumper on the ensuing possession, but Ausar Thompson grabbed the offensive rebound, and Cunningham connected from mid-range to put Detroit up 114-109 and to secure the Pistons’ single-game postseason scoring record.

Cunningham shot 13 of 23 from the floor and 5 of 8 from beyond the 3-point arc. He also converted on all 14 of his free throw attempts while adding four rebounds and five assists.

Harris finished with 23 points and eight rebounds, while Thompson filled the stat sheet with 15 rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocked shots.

Detroit again struggled to protect the ball, committing 17 turnovers, but balanced the possession battle by grabbing 16 offensive rebounds.

Banchero was nearly as magnificent as Cunningham, also scoring 45 points and coming up one point shy of Orlando’s playoff scoring record.

Banchero also had nine rebounds and seven assists, and he made six 3-pointers, but he was just 5 for 12 from the free throw stripe.

Anthony Black scored an efficient 19 points off the bench, and Desmond Bane finished with 18 points.

 

Reaves returns but Rockets extend series

Jabari Smith Jr. scored 22 points, Alperen Şengün came up just shy of a triple-double, and the Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 99-93 to spoil Austin Reaves’ return and to again stave off elimination,  sending their first-round series back to Houston for Game 6.

The Rockets faced a daunting task after their Game 3 collapse left them down 0-3 in the series, but they rebounded with a Game 4 win at home and sealed a crucial road victory on Wednesday.

No team in the NBA has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit to win the series, and only four teams have forced a Game 7 in that spot, with the most recent being the 2023 Boston Celtics against the Miami Heat.

Los Angeles jumped out to a 10-point lead late in the first quarter, but Houston responded with 17-6 run to take the lead and built their advantage to 13 points in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers’ faithful erupted with optimism when a LeBron James layup capped an 11-1 run to cut the Houston lead to 88-85 with 2:59 remaining.

Reed Sheppard halted the run with a mid-range jumper, then stole the ball from James on the other end and finished a fast-break dunk.

Down by 4 late, the Lakers’ last hope at a rally fell short when James’ 3-point attempt clanked off the front of the rim with 12 seconds remaining.

Şengün finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, while Tari Eason added 18 points.

James was the leading scorer for Los Angeles, finishing with 25 points and seven assists.

Reaves, who missed four weeks with an ailing back, had 22 points and six assists in 34 minutes off the bench. He was 4 of 16 from the field but made 12 free throws.

 

Schröder, Mobley lift Cavs in pivotal Game 5

Dennis Schröder scored 11 of his 19 points in the decisive fourth quarter, Evan Mobley made a pair of key 3-pointers, and the Cleveland Cavaliers earned a 3-2 series lead over the injury-hampered Toronto Raptors with their 125-120 win.

Schröder scored seven points in the Cavs’ 11-2 fourth-quarter run that proved to be the difference.

Schröder , who had yet to reach double digits scoring in each of the previous four games of the series, was 7 for 11 from the field and knocked down a trio of 3-pointers.

The home team is 5-0 in this series, with Game 6 in Toronto on Friday.

Mobley and James Harden each finished with 23 points and nine rebounds, with Donovan Mitchell adding 19 points.

Toronto All-Star forward Brandon Ingram played just 11 minutes before being ruled out with right heel inflammation, a flare-up of an injury that has bothered him for weeks.

To make matters worse, fellow All-Star Scottie Barnes was visibly bothered after taking a knee to the leg and poked in the eye while battling in the paint.

With the Raptors’ All-Stars hindered, RJ Barrett had 25 points and 12 rebounds. Barnes finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists and three blocked shots.