Cade Cunningham Says Magic Made Pistons 'Take a Look in the Mirror' During NBA Playoff Series

The No. 1 seed Detroit Pistons faced a big scare against the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic after trailing in their best-of-seven series three games to one, but they won three straight games and will now face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

After the series ended with a 116-94 Pistons win on Sunday, Detroit star point guard Cade Cunningham gave credit to the Magic and said they forced the Pistons to "take a look in the mirror."

"Credit to [the Magic], they pushed us," Cunningham said, per ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "They really made us take a look in the mirror. I think we got a lot better from this series. I got a lot better. I learned a lot about myself, learned a lot about the team. So, I think this series really is going to set us up for our next series, and we'll be a lot better for it."

Detroit won Game 5, 116-109, but found itself down 24 points early in the third quarter of Game 6. However, the Pistons' stifling defense ultimately held Orlando to just 19 second-half points en route to a 93-79 win.

In Game 7, the Pistons crushed the Magic by 22 thanks to big games from Cunningham (32 points, 12 assists) and Tobias Harris (30 points, nine rebounds). Jalen Duren, who dealt with some struggles earlier in this series, shook those off and broke out for 15 points and 15 rebounds in his best playoff performance this year.

Now Detroit, which won 60 games en route to the No. 1 seed, will face the Cavs. The two teams split their four-game series in the regular season.

Game 1 of their playoff series will take place in Detroit on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.