Detroit faces elimination in New York
The Detroit Pistons find themselves down 3-1 to the New York Knicks and facing potential elimination at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. It’s been a series of tough beats for the Pistons, who have been on the wrong side of one-possession games twice in this series. Once, they couldn’t effectively get a shot in-bounds for a miracle attempt. In the other, they got two shots to go ahead, but the second had no chance because of a no-call the NBA later admitted was a mistake. For the series, the Knicks are only +8. In other words, this is not the shellacking that the Thunder put on the Grizzlies or the Cavaliers put on the Heat.
Game Vitals
When: 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Watch: TNT, TruTV, MAX
Odds: Pistons +5.5
Analysis
If nothing else, the Detroit Pistons are collecting a lot of valuable information and learning a lot of lessons in the first playoff series for this young team. Cade Cunningham has largely been brilliant, but not without flaws. The good news is they seem like the kind of flaws that are correctable. He needs to tighten his handle and decision-making in close spaces. He needs to become a more reliable three-point shooter. He needs to finish better at the rim and learn the art of drawing contact in a way where the refs don’t swallow their whistles.
However, even without those tools yet secured into his bag, Cunningham has often been the best player on the court in this series. He is playing a level of defense you want to see in a player you’re tying your franchise’s fortunes to. I’m not sure the last time you could say a one-way player led a team to a championship, and you never know with these young, budding stars how seriously they will take their defensive responsibilities. Like everything else, though, Cade takes it seriously. He was a monster on defense in Game 4. He also has grown by leaps and bounds in his ability to navigate defenses and get to the rim. The field goal percentage will rise considerably once he better understands how to finish and how to draw contact. He’s also doing what he’s always done — dictating the pace of the game, getting his teammates involved, and using his size and his craft to make those around him better. It hasn’t translated to wins in this series, but it is leaving me more confident than ever that those wins will becoming, likely as soon as next season.
Heck, that win could even come tonight. The Pistons are not a team that is going to lie down just because the odds are not in their favor. They are going to scrap and fight, and work as hard as they have all season. It’s how they got here, and it’s the identity coach JB Bickerstaff has cultivated and demands.
It certainly hasn’t been a perfect series, especially with Isaiah Stewart (listed as questionable for tonight) out injured. Karl-Anthony Towns has proven to be a terrible matchup for Jalen Duren, who struggles to guard Towns in space, and Tobias Harris, who struggles to keep him away from the rim. All credit to Towns for stepping up big-time in this series. There have also been issues with Ausar Thompson, who Detroit desperately wants on the floor. In the playoffs though, it has been hard for Detroit to have a functional offense with Thompsons’ limitations on the floor. Ausar isn’t attempting crazy shots, but he is trying to be that secondary playmaker he was in the regular season, and it’s been a disaster for the second-year player. Thompson has been rifling ill-advised passes, getting his pocket picked, and doesn’t have a sense of what to do with the ball. It’s a shame because his defense has been stellar when he hasn’t been limited by foul trouble.
It’s also been nice to see Tobias Harris acquit himself well in the playoffs after being scapegoated for years on disappointing Sixers teams. He has been steady, efficient, and an emotional leader on the floor. Ron Holland is also riding ALL his emotions, sometimes for ill and often times for good. It’s a great taste test for him as Detroit understands how to further develop the young wing. Dennis Schröder has been a bucket all series, and it is looking like the team might want to secure his services beyond this year.
The Pistons will hope to extend this series simply by playing the kind of defense they played for 40 minutes of Game 3 and Game 4 without allowing the huge runs that have put them behind and in the losers’ column for those games. That will require not just the energy but the focus to execute the defensive game plan in an attempt to limit both Towns and Jalen Brunson. It will also require even sharper focus on the offensive end so that they are limiting New York’s transition opportunities. The win is there for the taking. Let’s hope Detroit seizes it and we get at least one more game at Little Caesars Arena.
Projected Lineups
Detroit Pistons (1-3)
Cade Cunningham, Tim Hardaway Jr., Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren
New York Knicks (3-1)
Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns
Question of the Day
Which star is most likely to get moved this offseason — Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo