7:25pm: Stewart is listed as questionable for Game 2 on Monday with right knee inflammation, Steve Popper of Newsday tweets .
2:59pm: After exiting in the fourth quarter of an eventual Game 1 defeat to New York, Pistons forward/center Isaiah Stewart
had imaging conducted on his right leg, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link
).
As Begley notes, Stewart had been struggling through the injury for much of the matinee contest.
The 6’8″ big man, one of Detroit’s toughest frontcourt bench options, adjusted to a reduced role under new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff this season.
Stewart had been a consistent starter throughout each of his last three seasons with lottery-bound Detroit squads. This year, en route to the team’s first playoff appearance since 2019, the Washington alum averaged 6.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.7 APG and 1.4 BPG a night.
In his first playoff game ever, the aforementioned 123-112 New York win in Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Stewart registered two points, five rebounds, two blocks, and one assist across 19 minutes of action. While those numbers don’t jump off the page, he was the only Piston who had a positive plus/minus rating (+8).
The second matchup, slated for Monday, will be another road tilt for Stewart and the Pistons.