The night at Kia Center began as the home fans expected. The Orlando Magic shot 56.1 percent from the field and established a 22-point lead. But that’s when things changed from good to worse in a 93-79 loss. In fact, things went so south that Jamahl Mosley’s side couldn’t make a single bucket for 45-straight minutes. When the coaching manual doesn’t work, the fans take it upon themselves, and today was that instance.

Duncan Robinson hit a 27-foot three-point pull-up jump shot, which helped the Pistons 88-75, their biggest lead tonight with 3:10 remaining. Detroit began the final frame 64-71 as Orlando only made free throws during that stretch. That’s why a young fan on the sidelines yelled, “GET IT TOGETHER” at the Magic stars. The stats following the game truly tell the story of how truly bad a night it was in the Kia Center.

• The Detroit Pistons came back from a 24-point deficit to force Game 7, the largest comeback by any road team in the NBA playoffs since 1996-97.
• The Magic went 1-27 shooting over the final 16 minutes of tonight’s game, making 1-of-20 shots in the fourth quarter.
• The Pistons held the Magic to just 19 points in the second half and only eight points in the fourth quarter. It made the history books as the lowest offensive output for a half in playoff history in the shot clock era. The eight points Orlando scored in the fourth were a franchise playoff low.

The Magic missed 23 consecutive shots from the field, and Detroit went on a 35-5 run. They went on a 51-15 run from the start of the third till nearly the end of the game. They held the Orlando Magic to just four made field goals. Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane combined for 25 first-half points, but the duo went 2/20 from the field in the second half.

“Detroit grit,” Cade Cunningham said. “That’s what we’ve been talking about all year.” Their head coach had a simple message. “We weren’t going to get it all back at once.” He asked his players to “stay in the moment”. But it was easier said than done. Because, in the second quarter, Magic outscored Pistons 35-12. In fact, Orlando outscored Detroit 17-0 from 3-point range and the free-throw line in that quarter. They held the away team to 2-for-11 shooting over the first 5:48 of the period and took a 60-38 lead into the half.

Paolo Banchero’s head coach remains optimistic

Going into this game, the Magic had won eight of their last nine postseason games at Kia Center, which includes the playoffs and play-in tournament. They were also previously 4-1 all-time in playoff series closeout games at home. With the quick start, it seemed they would continue this streak. Instead, the shots stopped going in, and the Pistons took the advantage.

“This team always shows fight,” Mosley said. “There’s no other way to put it. This does suck. You have a 24-point lead and we let it go. And the reality is it’s got to sting and it’s got to hurt right now. But you’ve got to be able to bounce back, and you’ve given yourself an opportunity to go get it done in Game 7.” So, the young fans and all the Magic loyalists across the board should be hopeful.

But in this series in Game 2 loss, Orlando scored 83, which was their lowest points. Now Game 6 was worse than that. Even if the Magic take the early lead again in Game 7, no one will think it is safe.