Beede’s Breakdown: Magic collapse in the 2nd half as Pistons force Game 7

Second-half swing

The Magic led by 22 points, 60-38, at the half but the Pistons threw the first punch out of the break. And they kept punching.

Detroit turned up the heat on defense while Orlando’s offense came to a complete halt. The Magic became stagnant and settled for poor shots while the Pistons took full advantage of Orlando’s mistakes.

The Pistons outscored the Magic 24-11 in the third quarter and followed that up with a 16-1 run to open the fourth. After falling behind by as many as 24 points, the Pistons led 74-72 halfway through the final frame.

Detroit outscored Orlando 55-19 in the second half.

Bane’s buckets

The Magic guard came out firing when he opened 3-for-3 from 3-point range to post a team-high 15 points in the first half.

He only scored two points in the second half.

After hitting his first three triples, Bane missed his next six.

Orlando didn’t have much help from their other starting guard either; Jalen Suggs shot 1-for-10 from the field for just seven points. Suggs added seven rebounds and seven assists.

Banchero up-and-down

The Magic’s superstar forward, Paolo Banchero, got off to a slow start by opening 1-for-6 from the field, including missing his first four 3-pointers.

Banchero was still able to reach 10 points at the break after he scored six points in the final 2½ minutes of the second quarter. His shooting woes, however, continued into the second half when he missed three more 3s and shot just 3-for-14 through the first three quarters.

In the fourth specifically, Banchero shot 1-for-7 from the field.

Bench boost

Mosley made a change to his rotation by turning to veteran guard Jevon Carter for his first meaningful minutes of the series. Carter checked into the game at the 5:04 mark of the first quarter and knocked down his first jumper but only played two minutes in the first half.

Elsewhere off the bench, the Magic received major contributions from reserves Tristan da Silva, Goga Bitadze and Anthony Black.

The German forward da Silva hit his first 3-pointer to help notch 7 first-half points. He and Black hit back-to-back 3s midway through the third quarter after Detroit got within 10 points of the Magic.

Black notched eight points while da Silva added 10 points and six rebounds.

Bitadze made his presence felt on both ends by racking up six points and four rebounds.

Orlando’s bench outscored Detroit’s 26-13.

Second-chance scoring

The Magic only scored two second-chance points in the opening quarter but took advantage of their extra opportunities in the second frame by notching 11 second-chance points across the 12-minute span.

Detroit was able to respond in the third quarter with six second-chance points and held the Magic to zero second-chance points that same stretch.

Ultimately, both teams finished with 14 second-chance points.

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com