All posts tagged: Pistons

Pistons Rally From 24 Down to Beat Magic 93-79 and Force Game 7 After Orlando Goes Ice-Cold

Pistons Rally From 24 Down to Beat Magic 93-79 and Force Game 7 After Orlando Goes Ice-Cold

Published by Sam Flores

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored 32 points and the top-seeded Detroit Pistons pulled off an incredible rally Friday night, erasing a 24-point deficit and beating the Orlando Magic 93-79 to force a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference first-round series. Detroit trailed by 22 at the half and Orlando’s lead went to 62-38 early in the third quarter. The Magic looked absolutely poised to become the seventh No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed in the first round. And then everything went wrong for Orlando. Everything. “Detroit grit,” Cunningham said. “That’s what we’ve been talking about all year.” The Magic became the first team since 1996-97 — when play-by-play began getting tracked digitally — to lose at home after leading by at least 24 points with a chance to win a series. That number, and a whole lot of others, were just baffling. The Magic missed 23 consecutive shots from the field, Detroit went on a 35-5 run and just like that, the story of the game — and quite possibly …

Pistons Pound the Magic in Paint and Meet Them at the Rim to End Their Long Home Playoff Win Drought

Pistons Pound the Magic in Paint and Meet Them at the Rim to End Their Long Home Playoff Win Drought

Published by Sam Flores

DETROIT (AP) — Ben Wallace and Rick Mahorn, like proud uncles, watched the Detroit Pistons pound the Orlando Magic in the paint and meet them at the rim in a 98-83 win that tied their first-round series at a game apiece. “I’m sure they appreciated it,” Pistons power forward Isaiah Stewart said. Wallace, a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and Mahorn, an enforcer for the Bad Boys, helped the Pistons win a lot of games that looked like Wednesday night’s slugfest. “I’m willing to lay my body on the line to make those plays for the energy,” Stewart said. Top-seeded Detroit held eighth-seeded Orlando to 33% shooting and season lows in points and field goals. The Pistons forced 19 turnovers and blocked 11 shots. “When we play defense at the level we’re capable of, it triggers everything for us,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We can be an elite defensive team, a disruptive defense. It’s Pistons basketball. That’s what it looks like. “We had one off night and it came at a bad …

The Real-Life Diet of Detroit Pistons Center Jalen Duren, Who Eats a Pound of Grapes Per Day

The Real-Life Diet of Detroit Pistons Center Jalen Duren, Who Eats a Pound of Grapes Per Day

Published by Jenni Sidey

Jalen Duren, the starting center for the wildly entertaining Detroit Pistons, is an athletic marvel. With a six-foot-ten stature, 250-pound weight, and protruding muscles, Duren has the type of body that was ready-made for the NBA as a teenager. In fact, when he made his professional debut, he was the youngest player in the league, at just 18 years old. Four years later, Duren is primed to make his first All-Star team, and credits many internal changes for his improved play. Given his revamped approach to health and wellness, it’s perhaps no surprise that his points per game average is the highest of his career. Out went Sour Patch Kids and massive, growing-young-man portion sizes, in went tasty summer fruits and regular soft-tissue massages. Duren has kept a few things consistent during his four years in Detroit, though, like avoiding the pregame spreads at NBA arenas, and maintaining his cinephile habits on the Pistons’ charter flights. In our conversation, Duren explained the dental hygiene-based reason for his new diet, his favorite Leonardo DiCaprio movie, and …