DETROIT — DETROIT (AP) — Cade Cunningham came through for the Pistons when they needed him. With Detroit teetering on the brink of elimination, Cunningham outdueled Orlando’s Paolo Banchero in a sensational scoring matchup of former No. 1 overall picks.Cunningham had a franchise playoff-record 45 points and the top-seeded Pistons held off the eighth-seeded Magic for a 116-109 win on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series, avoiding elimination for at least a couple of days.“We dug ourselves a hole and now it’s time to climb our way out,” Cunningham said. “It’s possible.”Orlando leads the series 3-2 and will get a second chance to advance at home on Friday night. If the Pistons win their first road game of the series, they will host a decisive Game 7 on Sunday.Banchero also scored 45 points for a playoff career high — but missed 7 of 12 free throws — and fell one point short of equaling the franchise postseason record shared by Tracy McGrady and Dwight Howard.The Magic were out-rebounded by 16 and made just 16 of 30 free throws.“We got to be better on the glass and obviously, better on the free-throw line,” said Banchero, drafted No. 1 overall by Orlando in 2022. “If we make our free throws, we got a real chance of winning the game. We lost by seven, and missed 14 free throws. That’s the game.”Cunningham set a single-game playoff scoring record for Detroit that had stood since Dave Bing had 44 points in 1968. Isiah Thomas approached that mark with a 43-point performance in 1988.In NBA history there was only one other playoff game with two players scoring 45 or more.Donovan Mitchell scored 51 poin …
