It was costly early, and crushing late. The Pistons committed six turnovers and fell behind 17-5 in the first four minutes of Game 4 versus the Magic. And they failed to make a meaningful field goal in the final five minutes of a 94-88 loss that put their season on the brink.
At the center of it was Cade Cunningham, who committed eight more turnovers after committing nine in Game 3 and shot 7-for-23 from the field, missing all of his attempts in the fourth quarter. Cunningham's 24 turnovers over the last three games are the most by a single player in a three-game span in the playoffs in NBA history.
Some of the turnovers in Game 4 were entirely unlike Cunningham, including a couple bad passes on three-on-one fast breaks that should have been easy buckets for Detroit -- and could have been the difference in the game.
“It’s frustrating," Cunningham told reporters in Orlando. "A lot of it was on myself, I was frustrated with my own play. Having numbers, not making plays in transition, things like that, the things I do best, not being able to make plays for my team. And they killed us on the offensive glass, our defense didn't hold up, so we're frustrated with all that stuff. We gotta fix it and come back better."
Cade: “Yeah it’s frustrating. A lot of it was on myself, I was frustrated with my own play. Having numbers, not making plays in transition. Things like that, the things I do best, just not being able to make plays for my team.” pic.twitter.com/J63XskMxGW
— Omari Sankofa II (@omarisankofa) April 28, 2026
Through four games of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Cunningham has 30 assists, but 28 turnovers. He's shooting just 42.4 percent (39-for-92) from the field. The Magic have made Cunningham the center of their attention on defense -- no different than most teams the Pistons played this season -- and his teammates haven't done enough around him to make Orlando pay.
"They’re sending a lot of bodies to him and we gotta help him by giving him more space so that he has room to operate," said J.B. Bickerstaff. "Set screens for him, be a little more physical, get the guys off of him. But again, we gotta do a better job of taking care of it."
The Pistons committed twice as many turnovers (20) in Game 4 as the Magic, who scored 23 points off those turnovers. Detroit also gave up 16 offensive rebounds, with Jalen Duren once again getting beat by Wendell Carter Jr. on the glass. Duren also committed four turnovers, a couple of them on costly offensive fouls.
"That's what the playoffs are," said Cunningham. "It's a chaotic environment and you gotta be able to handle that with poise and execute, (especially) on the road when it's loud. We're built with all that stuff, we're capable. Just haven't done it yet, but there's still fight in us. They gotta beat us again, so we're looking forward to the next opportunity."
Cunningham might still be showing the effects of missing three weeks late in the season with a collapsed lung. His legs looked weary late in Game 4, though he was terrific in the fourth quarter of Game 3. Asked if Cunningham looks tired, Bickerstaff said, "He’s out there, he wants to be out there and we trust him to be out there, and he plays at a high level no matter what."
The No. 1 seed Pistons find themselves down 3-1 to the 8-seed Magic, at risk of becoming the third team in NBA history to win 60 games in the regular season and lose in the first round of the playoffs. "Going into (the series)," Cunningham said he would have been "shocked" to see the Pistons on the brink of elimination ahead of Game 5.
"But the way that we’ve been playing, that stuff’s not good enough to win games in this league. This league’s too good. They’re a good team. They’re out-rebounding us, turning me over, and we haven’t hit enough shots. Our defense hasn’t caught its footing. So it’s not shocking that we’re losing games playing like that.”
The Pistons will come home for Game 5 on Wednesday, needing to dig deep to keep their season alive.
