The Detroit Pistons secured their first playoff win since 2008 in dramatic fashion on Monday, as they hung on to beat the New York Knicks in Game 2 of their first-round series, which is now all square at 1-1. Their 15 losses in the row in the playoffs was the longest losing streak in NBA postseason history.
The Pistons took the lead late in the first quarter and were in complete control for most of the night. They led by as many as 15 and were still up by double digits well into the fourth quarter. But just like in Game 1, they started to fall apart down the stretch and the Knicks were able to tie things up on a Josh Hart dunk with 1:15 remaining.
Down on the other end, though, Dennis Schroder stepped up with a huge 3-pointer with 56 seconds left to put the Pistons back in front for good. Schroder put up 20 points and three assists, and outscored the Knicks’ bench by himself.
Cade Cunningham was the star for the Pistons, finishing with 33 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals on 11 of 21 from the field in a major bounce-back effort after a poor Game 1.
Jalen Brunson had 37 points and seven assists in defeat for the Knicks.
The series will now shift back to Detroit for Game 3 on Thursday.
The Knicks have not played a particularly inspiring game, but they’re down by only eight heading into the final frame. It might have been worse if not for this friendly bounce at the end of the shot clock:
The story, right now, is that Cade Cunningham and the Pistons have looked comfortable all night. That could change in the next 12 minutes, though, as they know very well.
Detroit has extended its lead in the third quarter. It’s up 68-53 with 4:55 left in the period.
This hasn’t been the prettiest game — there have been some silly turnovers on both sides, and the two teams are shooting a combined 10 for 37 from 3-point range — but it has been an impressive, professional response by the Pistons after a fourth-quarter meltdown in the opener.
Now let’s see if they’ve learned from what happened on Saturday.
Cade Cunningham, by the way, is up to 26 points on 10-for-17 shooting. Here he is going behind the back and throwing it down on the break:
New York made up a bit of ground in the second quarter, largely thanks to Jalen Brunson, who scored 13 points in the period (and has a total of 17 on 6-for-11 shooting in 20 minutes). The Knicks went on a 12-4 run in a stretch that spanned 3:14 late in the quarter.
At halftime, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham leads all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting, plus seven rebounds. He’s been extremely aggressive, and after committing four turnovers in the first quarter, he took care of the ball in the second.
Dennis Schroder gave Detroit a lift off the bench with nine points on 3-for-5 shooting in 13 minutes. Paul Reed’s six minutes were an adventure — he turned the ball over twice, blocked a Karl-Anthony Towns 3 and generally wreaked havoc all over the place.
Something to monitor: The Pistons shot 13 for 14 from the free-throw line in the first half, and the Knicks didn’t take a single free throw until Brunson got to the line with 17 seconds left in the half. (I’m not implying that New York got a bad whistle or anything, just noting the disparity.)
Pretty strong start for Detroit in Game 2. After one quarter at MSG, the Pistons have a seven-point lead. Cade Cunningham has eight points on 4-for-7 shooting, plus six rebounds. (Four turnovers, though.) Jalen Duren has six points and two offensive boards, including a big one at the very beginning of the game:
The Knicks have missed all eight 3s they have attempted. They didn’t do much damage from deep in Game 1, either, but this probably needs to change at some point.
The Pistons will be without backup big man Isaiah Stewart for Game 2 against the Knicks due to right knee inflammation.
Stewart, who sat out of the team’s final two regular season games with the knee issue, played 19 minutes in Game 1 and finished with two points, five rebounds and two blocks. His absence will be a big blow to the Pistons’ hopes of evening up the series on Monday and stealing homecourt advantage in the process.
Without Stewart, the Pistons will likely turn to Paul Reed, who did not see the court in Game 1 and played sparingly for the team during the regular season.
NBA playoff odds, picks: Best bets for Knicks vs. Pistons, Nuggets vs. Clippers Game 2s on Monday
In the span of 4:17 in the fourth quarter, the Knicks went on a 21-0 run to take control of the game. The Pistons kept turning the ball over, and the Knicks kept finding easy baskets on the break.
It was wild. Detroit had a 98-90 lead about three minutes into the quarter, and then it evaporated in a flash. If you were scared that the Pistons’ relative inexperience might show up at an inopportune time, this was your worst nightmare.
Jalen Brunson finished with a game-high 34 points on 12-for-27 shooting and eight assists for the Knicks. OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns added 23 points apiece. Reserve guard Cam Payne scored 11 of his 14 points in the fourth, including two 3s and a three-point play.
Tobias Harris finished with a team-high 23 points for the Pistons, but 22 of them came in the first half. Cade Cunningham had 21 points on 8-for-21 shooting and 12 assists in his first playoff game, but turned the ball over six times.
Detroit can clearly play with New York. Maybe that’s encouraging. But this was a massive missed opportunity.
Detroit put up 36 points in the third quarter, and it created some separation with a 10-3 spurt that started around the 2:00 mark. My favorite moment came much earlier than that, though — look at this supersonic spin move by Ausar Thompson:
Dennis Schroder also had a mean block on Jalen Brunson, and Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 12 of his 19 points in the third (on 4-for-4 shooting).
Detroit should feel great heading into the fourth, but can this young team close out Game 1 on the road? We’ll find out.
The final 50 seconds of the first half was pretty eventful. First, Pistons star Cade Cunningham picked up his third foul trying to cut off OG Anunoby’s baseline drive. After that, Detroit’s Dennis Schroder turned the ball over twice. The first one led to a 3 from Anunoby, the second to a layup by Jalen Brunson.
For the Pistons, it looked like an absolutely awful way to end the half … but then Tobias Harris hit a pull-up 3 at the buzzer.
At halftime, Harris has a game-high 22 points (on 7-for-10 shooting, 4-for-5 from deep) in 22 minutes. Malik Beasley has 12 points off the bench — four 3s, one shimmy. Cade Cunningham hasn’t been particularly efficient in his first ever playoff game (six points on 3-for-10 shooting) but he’s made a few tough shots over Anunoby and Bridges and he has six assists.
Anunoby leads New York with 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Brunson has 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting and three assists.
This has been a tough, physical, back-and-forth game. The matchups have been interesting — Detroit put Harris on Karl-Anthony Towns, Ausar Thompson on Brunson and Jalen Duren on Josh Hart to start the game. The Knicks put Anunoby on Cunningham and Bridges on Harris.
Knicks centers Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson only played 47 minutes together (in 10 games) during the regular season. New York has gone to the double-big lineup in the second quarter against Detroit, though, and it could be a real factor in this series.
With about four minutes left in the first half, Jalen Brunson missed a floater but Robinson was there for a nasty putback dunk:
Yes, Spike Lee loved it. So did the whole crowd at MSG.
Robinson has three offensive boards in 11 minutes.
Towns, by the way, has 10 points (on 4-for-6 shooting), six rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes. He’s done most of his damage against Tobias Harris, as Detroit decided to use him as its primary defender against Towns.
Knicks forward OG Anunoby ended the first quarter of Game 1 against the Pistons by making a midrange jumper over Dennis Schroder. That shot gave him 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Anunoby took on a bigger offensive role late in the season when Jalen Brunson was out of the lineup, but I’m not sure I expected him to start the playoffs with a double-digit quarter.
It’s 27-27 heading into the second quarter. Tobias Harris leads the Pistons with nine points on 4-for-5 shooting. It’s been a bit of a sloppy start, but it’s been competitive.
