Cunningham Makes NBA Debut as Magic fall, 110-103

Call it a get right game, a gimme, or simply the back-end of a back-to-back, whatever term of the phrase you want to use wouldn’t do it justice. On Saturday night the Magic closed out their opening month with a frustrating, 110-103 loss to the previously winless Detroit Pistons.

A back-and-forth game for the first two quarters, combined with Orlando playing less than 24 hours after making, saw a tired Magic team slip late against the Pistons. Tied at 70-70 with just 3:10 left to go in the third, Detroit reeled off a 12-0 run, punctuated by a kelly Olynyk driving dunk. The Magic would never really challenge from there.

For the Magic, Franz Wagner was the high-water man, as the rookie out of Michigan poured in 19pts and three rebounds and connected on 3 of his 6 three-pointers, meanwhile, his brother Moritz added 13 off the bench as the two combined for 32 points on the evening. 

For the Magic, a team playing on the back-end of back-to-back, tired legs showed late, as the club was held to just 42% from the field and a club that has played decent defense in the opening frames, allowed the Pistons to shoot 75% from 3 and 52% from the floor over the game’s final 12 minutes.

For Detroit, Saturday marked the beginning of an era. After not participating in the NBA preseason, and missing his club’s first four games of the season due to an injury. But after practicing with Detroit’s G-League team the day before, Cunningham made his debut on Saturday playing in 19 minutes for a Detroit team that desperately needed a lift.

But while Cunningham was the headliner, it was actually NBA veteran Jerami Grant that made the most noise. The long-time pesky veteran notched 22 points, added five assists, and proved to be the difference-maker late in the game. Meanwhile, a balanced scoring attack that saw seven different Pistons contribute double figures, with every member that saw game action contributing to the final score, with the bench adding 56 pts, led by Kelly Olynk’s 18.

For the Magic, they’ll finish off this three-game NBA road trip with their only visit this season to the Timberwolves. Game time is set for 8 pm ET.

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