DETROIT (AP) — Paolo Banchero wanted to say the diplomatic thing.
He just couldn't do it.
Shortly after Banchero's Orlando Magic lost 116-94 to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday in Game 7 of their playoff series, he was asked if they have enough talent to win in the NBA.
Seated on the postgame press conference stage, Banchero hesitated before answering.
“I want to say yes, but this the third straight time we haven't gotten out of the first round,” he said. “So if you are going off the last three years, the answer is no. The nice answer is yes, but honestly speaking, I can't say we're good enough to be in the finals or the Eastern finals, because the last three years, we've had the same result.
“So that's your answer.”
Banchero has every reason to wonder. In the first four games of the series, he averaged 20 points and Franz Wagner scored 17.8 per game as Orlando took a 3-1 lead.
Wagner, though, sustained a calf injury that kept him out of the last three games. Banchero picked up his pace, averaging 33.3 points in the final three games, including 38 in Game 7, but he never got any help.
He had 32 points on 12-for-22 (54.5%) shooting through the first three quarters Sunday, but his teammates only scored another 32, making 27% (10-for-32) of their shots. Banchero was 4 for 7 on 3-pointers (57%), while his teammates were 4 for 16 (25%).
“We just couldn't find the basket,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We were playing well on defense, but we couldn't put the ball in the hole.”
That capped off five horrific quarters of offense that cost Orlando a chance to win the series as the No. 8 seed.
It started at halftime of Game 6. The Magic held what looked like a comfortable 22-point lead, only to score 19 points in the second half on 10.8% shooting.
They put up a decent 49 points in the first half on Sunday, then slumped to 15 in the third quarter as the Pistons built a 19-point lead. That's 83 points in six quarters — an average of 16.6 points. That's on pace for 66.4 points for four quarters, which would struggle to win playoff games in the 1950s, much less the 2020s.
Mosley, though, wasn't ready to question his roster.
“There's time to reflect on this and start thinking about changes we might be able to make," he said. "Today is about the gratitude for these guys and how they gave us a chance to play in a Game 7.
“They fought and battled the whole way. We just didn't get the job done.”
On the other side of Little Caesars Arena, the Pistons were talking about how they solved the same problem Orlando couldn't fix.
Cade Cunningham averaged 32.5 points in the first six games, but wasn't getting enough help. Sunday, he put up another 32 points, but Tobias Harris added 30 and Jalen Duren had 15 points and 15 rebounds.
“No one can ever say (stuff) to me about Tobias Harris,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He's a leader and a great human being, and he's a high-level competitor. He showed up tonight and did what he did with everything on the line.”
Harris and Duren did what Banchero's teammates couldn't do, which is why the Pistons are off to the second round.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
