Can Pistons come back vs. Magic? History is on No. 1 seed's side despite 3-1 hole

The Detroit Pistons, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, were pushed to the brink of elimination Monday night with a 94-88 loss to the Orlando Magic in Game 4 of their first-round series. Now down 3-1, the Pistons are in danger of becoming the fifth No. 1 seed to be knocked out in the first round since the league went to best-of-seven series for all playoff rounds in 2003.

Ironically, the Pistons were the No. 1 seed back in 2003, and found themselves down 3-1 in their first-round series. The opponent? The Magic. Two decades ago, the Pistons stormed back to win the series in seven games and eventually reached the Eastern Conference finals. They are still the only No. 1 seed in NBA history to pull off a 3-1 comeback in the first round. 

No. 8 seeds to take 3-1 lead in first round

Can the Pistons pull off another comeback? It's certainly possible. They will return home for Game 5 and would have Game 7 at home as well if the series gets that far. They were either tied or winning in the final five minutes of both Games 3 and 4 and the Magic are shooting 38.7% from the field for the series. Plus, Orlando's Franz Wagner left Game 4 early and was diagnosed with a calf strain. As of Tuesday night, he was listed on the injury report as questionable for Game 5. 

As we wait to see if history will repeat itself, let's take a trip down memory lane to see how the Pistons pulled off their 2003 comeback over the Magic. Notably, the 2003 series started out the exact same way as the 2026 series has: the Magic won Game 1, the Pistons won Game 2, and then the Magic won Games 3 and 4. 

We'll pick things up back in 2003 with Game 5. 

Game 5: Pistons 98, Magic 67

After two frustrating losses in Orlando, the Pistons returned home for Game 5 at The Palace at Auburn Hills needing a win to keep their season alive. "Our mood is anxious," coach Rick Carlisle told reporters at shootaround the morning of the game. "We need to raise our level of aggression."

The Pistons followed through. Less than a minute into the game, Chauncey Billups hit a mid-range jumper to break a 2-2 tie. From there, the Pistons never trailed again as they destroyed the Magic with a comprehensive performance on both ends of the floor.

"It felt good to put together a complete game of 48 minutes where we really played hard," Carlisle said. "And our crowd had a lot to do with our energy."

Tracy McGrady, who allegedly said "it feels good to get into the second round" after the Magic's Game 4 win -- a claim he recently denied -- entered Game 5 averaging 36.3 points on 51.6% shooting in the series. The Pistons held him to 19 points on 8 of 20 from the field. "Every time I got by one guy, there was another guy there for me," McGrady said. "It was a great strategy."

Detroit's defense was just as relentless against everyone else in a Magic uniform. Orlando shot 32% from the field and nearly had as many turnovers (20) as made baskets (24). Their 67 points were their fewest in a game that season. 

Richard Hamilton scored 24 points to lead the way in the scoring department for the Pistons, who also got 14 points, 21 rebounds, four steals and three blocks from Ben Wallace in a monster two-way performance. Rookie Tayshaun Prince, who had barely gotten on the court in the first four games, came off the bench to add 15 points and six rebounds in 32 minutes. 

"I didn't even have a clue I was playing, so it was a surprise to me," Prince said after the game. 

Game 6: Pistons 103, Magic 88

"I don't think history has any bearing on what's going to happen Friday night," Magic coach Doc Rivers said after his team's Game 5 defeat. "As a young team, we learned that a No. 1 seed will play like a No. 1 seed when the pressure is on. It was a disappointing effort, but at the end of the day, we're still up by a game and we're going home."

Home-court advantage was of no help to the Magic in Game 6 at TD Waterhouse Centre. Once again, Orlando fell behind early and could not recover. The Pistons led by nine at the end of the first quarter and pushed their advantage to double digits early in the second, then spent the rest of the game fending off Magic runs. 

Billups, who poured in a playoff career-high 40 points in the victory, scored nine of them in the final two minutes to put the game away. "Chauncey definitely carried this team," Wallace said. "When he comes to play like that, it's tough to stop him."

Wallace himself was once again terrific aside from his 8 of 22 performance at the free-throw line. He finished with 20 points, 17 rebounds, four steals and five blocks in a whopping 45 minutes. Game 5 was one of only three 20-point games the defensive-minded Wallace had in 130 playoff appearances over his nearly two-decade career. 

"I told everybody how I felt and it looks like they responded," Wallace said after Game 6, referencing an apparent fiery speech he gave his team following their Game 4 defeat. "We could have felt sorry for ourselves and thought the series was over, but we didn't."

Thanks to Wallace's presence around the basket, the Magic settled for dozens of mid-range jumpers and shot 39.5% overall. McGrady finished with 37 points, but needed 28 shots and 17 free throw attempts to get there, and no one else on the Magic has more than 12 points. 

"This game was about survival," Carlisle said. "When we were down, 3-1, we had talked about having an opportunity to come back here. Now we have a chance to win it at our place."

Game 7: Pistons 108, Magic 93

The Palace at Auburn Hills was rocking for the first Game 7 in the first round in NBA history. (The Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trail Blazers also played Game 7 of their first-round series on May 4, 2023, but their matchup came after Pistons vs. Magic.)

Rivers moved Darrell Armstrong and Pat Garrity into the starting lineup in place of Jacque Vaughn and Andrew DeClercq, who had really struggled in Games 5 and 6. Together, Vaughn and DeClercq had managed just 15 points on 6 of 21 shooting in the two double-digit defeats combined.

While Rivers' adjustment worked -- Armstrong and Garrity combined for 18 points on 7 of 14 in Game 7 -- it meant little because the Pistons once again shut down McGrady. Orlando needed a big night from McGrady to win Game 7 on the road, but he finished with 21 points on 7 of 24 from the field. 

McGrady had taunted Pistons fans after Game 5 by holding up 3-2 with his fingers to show his team's lead at the time. Everyone in Detroit was well aware, including Pistons players. "We figured them out," Billups said after Game 7. "We were able to wear Tracy down."

McGrady's scoring fell off as series progressed

Just as they had in Games 5 and 6, the Pistons jumped on the Magic early and never relented. They were up by double digits within eight minutes and pulled away for good late in the third quarter. 

Billups again led the way with 37 points and five assists, while Hamilton added 22 points and Wallace chipped in with seven points, 12 rebounds, five assists and five blocks. Prince was also a difference-maker for the second time in three games with 20 points off the bench. 

"When I'm playing at a level like this, we're definitely going to be tough to beat," Billups said. His 37 points were the second-most he ever scored in the postseason, behind only his 40 points in Game 6. 

As a team, the Pistons shot 54.8% from the field, which was their most efficient showing of the series by far. They hadn't shot better than 43.8% in any of the first six games. 

At the time, the Pistons became the seventh team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 series deficit -- a feat that would not have been possible without the league's decision to expand the first round to seven games that year. 

"It's one of those things where a small rule change went against us," DeClercq said a few days after the Magic's season ended. "Then again, if they knew they only had five games, maybe they would have played a little differently a little earlier."

Magic general manager John Gabriel also lamented what could have been under the old best-of-five first-round format. 

"I felt in my heart, after we had won Game 1, that the seven-game format probably favored the higher seed, and it's pretty evident now that in general, it gives the higher seeds more chances," Gabriel said. "It used to be you could go in and `steal' the first game. Well, now it's not that much of a steal because there's still a lot of other games to be earned. It worked against us a little bit, but that's no excuse."

The Pistons went on to defeat Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers in six games in the second round, before falling to Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference finals. Carlisle was fired after the season and replaced with Larry Brown, who led the Pistons to the 2004 title the very next season.