Paolo Banchero, Magic force Pistons to unfortunate 18-year NBA Playoffs streak originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Orlando Magic are not what they seem. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner have led this team to the NBA Playoffs before, that experience surfaced. They battered down the Cade Cunningham-led Detroit Pistons in Game 1. Unfortunately, the top seed in the Eastern Conference continues to have a curse that dates back to 2008.

The Pistons have now lost all of their home NBA Playoffs games since 2008, per Underdog NBA. Their loss to Paolo Banchero and the Magic marked the 18th-year of that streak continuing too. Moreover, this also means that the Pistons have lost 11-straight NBA Playoffs games at home. To put that into perspective, Tayshaun Prince, Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess, Rasheed Wallace, and Rip Hamilton were all still in the starting lineup.

Cade Cunningham and Co. were not able to notch the lead at least once in this game because the Magic were in control. Banchero was able to rally the Magic to lead as much as 13 points and those proved to be too much for the Pistons. The Orlando superstar notched 23 points by knocking down 53.3% of his shots from the field while also going 50% from three-point range. Franz Wagner was also a big help as he dropped 19 points while grabbing five rebounds, four assists, and stealing the ball twice from the Pistons.

The biggest Achilles heel of the Pistons that the Magic exploited was their ball security. Banchero's squad managed to wipe away all offensive momentum by notching 11 steals. More than that, the Pistons were not ready to bang bodies on the paint. The Magic were able to score 54 points in the paint and get 11 offensive rebounds.

The NBA Playoffs are daunting for all teams but it seems like the Pistons just do not have winning at home in their cards in the postseason. Will Cunningham be able to get one back and break the curse against the Magic in Game 2?