Mitch Albom: Season on the brink, Cade Cunningham puts Detroit Pistons on his back

Oh, they felt him, all right. The way you feel an angry porcupine. The Magic, without the injured Franz Wagner, had no answer for Cunningham’s long-range 3-point touch, midrange shooting touch, or short-range driving touch. Cunningham shot 56.5% from the floor, banged in five 3-pointers, and hit all 14 of his free throws en route to the biggest scoring total in Pistons’ playoff history.

But in sports, “when” matters more than “what,” and this "when" was critical. It came as Detroit was on the brink of watching itself melt in the mirror. In four straight playoff games – three of them losses – the top-seeded Pistons’ identity had all but disappeared. Their strengths had weakened. Their weaknesses had magnified. They’d sunk from a No. 1 entertaining a No. 8 to an underdog just trying to survive.

This would not do. And Cunningham, who despite being the lead horse in the chariot race all series, was committing way too many turnovers and failing to lift his team the few times it got its head above water.

Then came Wednesday night.

Heroes hear trumpets.

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff speaks at a press conference before Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff walks up the podium at a press conference before Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff speaks at a press conference before Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff speaks at a press conference before Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

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Detroit Pistons try to fight off elimination by Magic in NBA playoffs

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff speaks at a press conference before Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

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Detroit Pistons try to fight off elimination by Magic in NBA playoffs

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff speaks at a press conference before Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

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Detroit Pistons try to fight off elimination by Magic in NBA playoffs

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff walks up the podium at a press conference before Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

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Detroit Pistons try to fight off elimination by Magic in NBA playoffs

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff speaks at a press conference before Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

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Detroit Pistons try to fight off elimination by Magic in NBA playoffs

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff speaks at a press conference before Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

SHAWN WINDSOR: Detroit Pistons needed every breath of Cade Cunningham's reborn wind

Cunningham unstoppable in the zone

“That’s why he’s special,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of his star’s record performance. “That’s why he is who he is. …There’s a handful of them in the league, right? They’re unique.”

I’ll say, considering that barely six weeks ago, Cunningham left the floor in Washington with a collapsed lung. In case you don’t have a medical book lying around, that’s when air leaks into the chest wall and forces your lung to deflate. If it doesn’t sound like the kind of thing that makes you say, “No biggie, I’ll play a grueling NBA playoff game in no time,“ well, that’s because it isn't.

“I almost forgot about [the collapsed lung],” teammate Ausar Thompson admitted after the game. “I almost forgot it happened.”

You can’t blame him. Not the way Cunningham played. The word the Pistons superstar used for the feel of Game 5 was “freer.” But that’s an understatement. On Wednesday night, Cunningham was like Peter Pan finding his shadow.

With no Wagner to clog his space, he drove the lane then swung passes to open shooters. Or took it breezily to the hole. Or pulled in, stepped back and swished baskets. Or he eased to the 3-point line, lined it up and fired.

All the while, as is his unique talent, Cunningham looked like he was oozing through his own private tunnel, never too fast, but never catchable.

“Once he gets in that zone,” Isaiah Stewart marveled, “nobody can stop him.”

What made it more impressive is that Cunningham was being matched all night by Orlando superstar Paolo Banchero. They were consecutive No.1 draft picks – in 2021 and 2022, respectively – and thus both dubbed “future of the league.”

In Game 5, they lived up to it. Banchero matched Cade with 45 points of his own, 18 of them on eye-blinking 3-pointers. Had he made his seven missed free throws (in 12 tries), he would have had 52 points. The two went back and forth like alternating ax swings at a giant oak, wondering who would make the big thing fall first. The last time opposing players scored 45 or more in the same playoff game was six years ago, when Utah's Donovan Mitchell and Denver's Jamal Murray put up 51 and 50, respectively, in the bubble playoffs in Florida. So Game 5 here in Detroit was, no matter who you were rooting for, a hell of a thing to watch.

“In the heat of the moment, you’re not really thinking of it,” Banchero said afterwards. “I’m sure one day we’ll look back and say that was a hell of a game. But me and him been going at it since AAU games.”

Cunningham, for his part, was more succinct when asked about the superstar throwdown.

“Yeah, that’s what’s up,” he said.

Heroes hear trumpets.

Pistons not through yet

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) shoots a free throw against Orlando Magic during the first half of Game 5 of First Round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

Now, Detroiters should celebrate Cunningham’s night, and the win it inspired. But anyone who thinks the tide of this series has turned should never be allowed to navigate a boat.

Remember, the Magic were without Wagner, easily their second-most valuable player in this series and a guy giving the Pistons fits with his defense (often on Cunningham) and his offense, as he drove the lane with impunity and averaged 16.8 points per game.

On top of that, Orlando missed 14 of their 30 free throws Wednesday night. How does that happen? It wasn’t because the LCA fans were waving towels and foam sticks.

“Free throws and rebounding,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosely said, tersely, when asked what was the difference in this game. “Free throws and rebounding.”

Don’t expect a repeat of the charity stripe disaster in Game 6 down in Orlando. The Magic take and make more free throws than almost any other team. And if Wagner plays, it’s a different story. Detroit still needs to clean up its turnovers; it had 17 in Game 5, which beats the 20 in Game 4, but is worse than the 16 in Game 3. And it must maintain the rebounding edge it showed in this win, particularly on the offensive glass. That is no small task.

But you can’t win two before you win one. The optimistic will point out that Detroit need only gut out a victory in Orlando on Friday night, and it’s all even, the last game is at LCA and the pressure would be on the Magic not to blow a 3-1 lead.

But, as the Night King said in “Game of Thrones,” we’ll kill that dragon when it comes flying into ice-spear range. Until then, the Pistons can only hope that guys like Jalen Duren, Duncan Robinson and Daniss Jenkins rediscover the potency that made them so valuable in the regular season.

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham celebrates a play and high-fives forward Ausar Thompson against the Orlando Magic during the first half of Game 5 in the first round of the NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

And that Cunningham knows it’s all right to be selfish in the playoffs. Too many times, he will try and make a pass to his teammates that the Magic anticipate and take away. They are far more scared of his shooting than his assisting.

“That’s definitely the balance [I] have to find with my job and with the skill set that I have,” Cunningham admitted Wednesday night. “I know I can get us points by me scoring, but also make sure that … I’m using my play-making ability to get everybody going.

“You’re right, sometimes in the fourth quarter, the ball needs to be in my hands a little more.”

I’d say a lot more. There’s a reason they yell “M-V-P!” when Cunningham is at the line, just as there is a reason that he seems to be able to move so slowly yet go so fast. The very rich, F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “are different than you and me.”

So are NBA superstars. And the best of them, when it counts the most, put their teams on their shoulders, tired lungs and all, and soar past franchise ghosts into the history books.

Heroes hear trumpets. Let’s hope Cunningham hears them again in Game 6. And that they’re not playing “Taps.”

Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow @mitchalbom on x.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Cade Cunningham learns lesson vs Magic: It's OK to be selfish