ORLANDO, Fla. — Desmond Bane lost the ball on a drive, retrieved it and as he went back toward the 3-point line, the Orlando Magic guard suddenly spun away from a defender with his right leg in the air over the out-of-bounds line before spotting up and hitting a baseline trey in front of the Detroit Pistons bench.
A scorching Bane was 6-for-6 from behind the arc and all he could do was wink at teammate Jalen Suggs.
Showing exactly why the Magic pushed their chips in to get him, Bane’s 3-point shot finally came to life in this series as the guard made seven treys to ignite Orlando to a 113-105 win over the Detroit Pistons in Game 3 at a packed Kia Center on Saturday.
Bane finished with 25 points, and his seven 3-pointers tied Dennis Scott for the franchise record for most 3’s in a playoff game. The shooting guard helped push Orlando to a 2-1 series lead over top-seeded Detroit with a pivotal Game 4 here on Monday.
“I think that opens up another dimension for our group,” Orlando forward Franz Wagner said of Bane’s franchise record-tying day.
Last offseason, the Magic traded four unprotected first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony to pry Bane away from Memphis. The expectation was that Orlando would be a top-four team in the East with Bane providing Paolo Banchero and Wagner with much-needed outside shooting to combat smothering defenses. But injuries and inconsistency forced Orlando to win a do-or-die game at the Kia Center a week ago against the Charlotte Hornets in order to secure the eighth seed.
Since demolishing the Hornets on April 17, the Magic have been a completely different team. They’ve given Detroit, a 60-win team this season, a taste of its own medicine with physical and annoying defense. And Bane finally provided his 3-point prowess.
The guard entered Saturday having hit just 3-of-15 from behind the arc in the first two games in Detroit. But he knocked down his first six 3-point attempts in Game 3.
Inside the paint, Detroit’s Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart could not contain Wendell Carter Jr., who had 14 points and 17 rebounds, eight coming on the offensive glass. Once again, Duren, an All-Star this season, struggled. The Pistons big man missed 7-of-10 shots and finished with eight points and nine rebounds but did add five blocks. Carter Jr. also helped foul Duren out in the fourth. Stewart got frustrated with Carter Jr., shoving the Magic big man on the final play of the first half after a missed shot that resulted in two free throws for Carter Jr.
“I just knew I had to be the most physical person out there,” Carter Jr. said. “Or they were going to punk me.”
Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff turned to Paul Reed to come off the bench early in the third after Banchero got a dunk. Orlando led 96-79 with 8:42 left in the fourth after a Carter Jr. tip dunk.
But the Pistons — who used a 30-3 run in the third quarter to win Game 2 on Wednesday — stormed back. They used a 26-8 surge to take a 105-104 lead with 2:52 left after Cade Cunningham scored 12 of his 27 points during the run.
“We’ve had moments where a run like that would derail us,” said Bane, who was also brought in to lead the young Magic. “We would go apart instead of coming together. That’s the growth of this team. I think that we’ve taken huge strides in that area and it’s going to be important for us as we continue to move deeper in this postseason.”
Orlando kept its poise. Wagner (17 points) answered with five straight and Banchero sealed the victory with a 3-pointer that bounced off the back rim and nearly as high as the top of the shot clock before falling in with 38.8 seconds left.
“I will start with me,” said Cunningham, who had nine turnovers. ” … Make sure I set everybody where I need them first, and then obviously they are collapsing so from there I need to be sharp with the ball … it all starts with me and I need to be better organizing this thing.”
The Magic have turned their season around, winning three of four games since a deflating 109-97 loss in Philadelphia in the 7-8 play-in game on April 15 forced them to play for their season against Charlotte. That jump-started this run in which they finally look like the team they were designed to be.
Banchero has been determined since he missed all five of his 3-point attempts in that loss at Philadelphia. The former No. 1 pick did it all Saturday, finishing with a near triple-double with 25 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, three steals and two blocks.
“I said after the Philly loss, basketball gods don’t reward hesitation,” Banchero said. “That one [3 that bounced in], I didn’t hesitate and they blessed me with that make. Just a funny shot but a big shot.”
The Pistons now find themselves having to win Game 4 in Orlando on Monday or fall behind 3-1. That would mean staving off elimination at home where they just snapped an 11-game home playoff losing streak, which was the longest in playoff history, in Game 2 last Wednesda.
“We win on Monday, we take homecourt advantage back,” Bickerstaff said. “Today’s game, we’ll learn from it. But it’s over with.
” … I trust our guys. You know that we’ll focus on it, we’ll study it, we’ll get better at it. And Monday, we’ll be ready to go.”
