Pistons vs. Magic Game 7 Live Updates: Following Along As Detroit, Orlando Face Off With Playoff Lives on the Line

Game 7 has arrived. And it will be glorious.

The Pistons and Magic have been locked in a fiercely competitive first-round series. No. 8 seed Orlando seemed fated to pull off the rare upset of the No. 1 seed in the first round after going up 3–1 in the series, but Detroit battled valiantly to pull out a pair of hard-earned wins in Game 5 and 6 to stay alive and force a Game 7. Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero have put up some tremendous performances as the stars that lead their respective rosters; they’ll both have to dig deep Sunday if they want to fight another day.

The finale of what has been the most back-and-forth series in the first round will come on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Game 7 will be broadcast on ABC; check your local affiliate or watch live on ABC’s website.

Pistons vs. Magic Game 7 live updates

How we got here ...

The Pistons were the best team in the East all season long and finished as one of three teams to clear the 60-win mark, an extraordinarily impressive achievement for a franchise that hasn’t enjoyed a lot of good basketball in the last 15 or so years. But the roster’s offensive weaknesses were exposed immediately come playoff time after the Magic earned the No. 8 seed with a play-in win; they dared anybody other than Cunningham on the Pistons’ roster to beat them and for the first four games of the series that proved a winning strategy.

But Detroit refused to roll over. Cunningham set a franchise record with 45 points to win Game 5 and the Pistons roared back from 22 points down in Game 6 as Orlando’s own offensive ineptitude caused an epic collapse. Nobody knows how Game 7 will look on the court, but we do know that it’s going to be fun to watch. This whole series has been.

From a game-by-game breakdown, here’s how we got here—and we can’t wait to see how it all wraps up.

Game 1: Magic 112, Pistons 101
Game 2: Pistons 98, Magic 83
Game 3: Magic 113, Pistons 105
Game 4: Magic 94, Pistons 88
Game 5: Pistons 116, Magic 109
Game 6: Pistons 93, Magic 79

More NBA playoffs on Sports Illustrated

Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.

Add us as a preferred source on Google