ORLANDO, Fla. _ — The Orlando Magic are one win away from knocking off a No. 1 seed and winning their first playoff series in 16 years.
They're not celebrating yet.
Desmond Bane scored 22 points, Franz Wagner had 19 in three quarters and the Magic beat the Detroit Pistons 94-88 Monday night to take a 3-1 series lead, putting the East’s No. 1 seed on the brink of elimination.
Game 5 is Wednesday night in Detroit.
“We put our ourselves in position to try to get four, but right now it means nothing,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We have the advantage and now we have to try and make sure we keep that advantage.”
Orlando, which had to win an elimination game at home in the play-in tournament, is on the verge of becoming just the seventh No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 in a series in league history. It's happened only four times since the playoffs were expanded to a best-of-seven series for all rounds in 2003.
“This is a team that won 60 games. I’m sure they’re not blinking an eye about not being able to win three games in a row,” Bane said. “They did it multiple times throughout the regular season.”
Paolo Banchero scored 18 points for the Magic on 4-of-18 shooting. Orlando shot just 32.6%, with Jalen Suggs going 1 for 13, including 1 for 11 from 3-point range.
The Magic overcame their shooting woes by protecting the ball. They had only 12 turnovers to 20 for Detroit.
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 25 points and Tobias Harris had 20. Cunningham had eight turnovers.
“We went into the series saying we needed to win a possession game,” Harris said. “That came down to the rebounding battle and also taking care of the basketball and in all of our losses that’s what we haven’t been at our best at. Obviously, we need to limit them from going to the free-throw line. They’ve been able to get us in close-out situations and break us down, get to the lane.”
Wagner left with 1:34 left in the third quarter due to right calf soreness.
Jamal Cain replaced Wagner and electrified the crowd with a driving dunk over Jalen Duren early in the fourth quarter. He also had a one-handed tip-in dunk that made it 87-85 with 4:55 to go.
Suggs missed his first eight shots before nailing a 3-pointer from the corner for an 85-80 lead. But Ausar Thompson’s layup tied it before Cain’s putback.
With former Grizzlies teammates Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. cheering him on courtside, Bane banked in a 3-pointer to extend Orlando's lead to 92-86 with 1:16 remaining.
“It’s special. Those are guys I spent five years with, started my career with, made a lot of memories with,” Bane said. “I’m super thankful that they came out to support. It’s a friendship that will last forever. Those are guys that mean a lot to me.”
The 45-win Magic haven’t won a playoff series since 2010, when they lost in the Eastern Conference finals. The 37-year-old franchise has never won an NBA title.
The Pistons, who won 60 games in the regular season, have an even longer series drought. They haven’t advanced to the second round since losing in the East finals in 2008
The teams traded double-digit leads in the first half and the Magic led 54-52 going into the third quarter.
Riding a wave of energy from a frenzied, blue-clad crowd, the Magic scored the first eight points and led 19-7 before missing 13 straight shots during a 20-5 run by Detroit.
The Pistons had a 40-30 lead midway through the second.
The Magic improved to 8-1 at home in the playoffs over the past three seasons.
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