Hoops Breakdown

The Orlando Magic are currently up 3-1 in the series against the Detroit Pistons and even though Franz Wagner underwent a right calf strain in game 5, Orlando is still looking like they can complete the upset over the 1-seeded Pistons.

The Pistons during the regular season absolutely dominated their competition. As well as achieving stats like 3rd in FG% 3rd in Points Allowed and 1st in blocks per game, the Pistons looked like a heavy favorite heading into the 2025-26 playoffs. Although they have shown everything but that so far. Having played well defensively, they haven’t seemed to get going on offense like they did during the regular season. Their star point guard Cade Cunningham has struggled big in turnovers so far through the 4 games. He is currently averaging 6.8 turnovers per game, which finds him on the wrong side of multiple playoff turnover records. Including most turnovers in a 3 game span and most consecutive games with 7+ turnovers.

Another reason the Pistons are struggling so much offensively is because their other young star Jalen Duren is contributing way less than he was during the regular season. During the regular season Jalen Duren was averaging 19.5 points 10.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 65% from the field. And during the series against Orlando he is currently averaging 9.8 points 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists on only 47% shooting. This is a huge downgrade from the regular season and is definitely another big factor in why they currently see themselves down 3-1.

The Magic on the other hand, has shown that they can hang with the top dogs at least defensively. They haven’t been scoring a whole lot of points on the Pistons but they are definitely shutting them down on the defensive side of the ball, allowing the least amount of points per game in the entire postseason so far. Even with star Franz Wagner looking doubtful to play in the upcoming game 5 if the Magic keep doing what they’re doing defensively they can move on to the Conference Semifinals in 5 or 6 games.