In the midst of a three-game slide heading into tonight’s matchup with the Detroit Pistons, one would think that the Knicks would come into the game with a chip on their shoulders. They had sent Cade Cunningham
and the Pistons packing last year in the first round in a 4-2 series win that was all about Brunson, Brunson, Brunson. Every single game was close, but the Knicks just figured out ways to make winning plays down the stretch. This was their first rematch since. After coming out flat a couple nights in a row, surely it was time to steady the ship.
However, this isn’t the same matchup that we saw the last time these two teams took the floor. Take also into account that the Pistons sat at 26-9, good enough the first seed in the East, and that New York (second in the East) had been struggling on both sides of the floor the last three games sans Josh Hart.
That’s not to say that Detroit was healthy either – Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren, and Caris LeVert were all sidelined before. This would be a battle of attrition, and it would be spearheaded by two dueling point guards: Jalen Brunson and Cade Cunningham.
One frame in, and the script was true. Brunson had 12 first quarter points. Cunningham also had 12. 30-29, Pistons. Surely we were in for a battle.
And then the wheels fell off. Like, really fell off.
New York hung around during the beginning of the second quarter, trailing 45-42 with 6:34 left to go in the frame. The Pistons stretched the lead to 10 by half, and it only ballooned the rest of the way. They were outscored 76-48 the rest of the game.
The Knicks couldn’t get anything going outside of Jalen Brunson the rest of the game. They turned the ball over (20 times). They got killed on the glass (outrebounded 44-30). They got destroyed in the paint (34 points in the paint vs. Detroit’s 52). The offense looked stagnant, combining for only 36 points in the second half. It was a game reminiscent of last year’s iso-heavy looks, only without the winning results.
Mikal Bridges had 10 points. OG Anunoby had 5. Karl-Anthony Towns had 6. The three shot a combined 6-18 from the field.
You won’t win many games when that happens.
Miles McBride was a bright spot off the bench, hitting five triples en route to 17 points. That’s just about the only positive I can take away from the night. The team got beat up, both on the court and on the scoreboard.
There are ebbs and flows to any NBA season. It’s not about how you play in October. It’s not about how you play in January. It’s about the team come playoff time. But the Knicks showed everyone tonight what happens when everything goes wrong. They looked soft, physically and mentally. It’s better to learn these lessons now than later, but it doesn’t make tonight’s performance any less disappointing. The guys came out flat.
The light at the end of the tunnel? Josh Hart is trending towards playing again soon. It’ll be seven straight games against Western conference teams, though, and it starts on Wednesday at the Garden before New York heads out towards the opposite coast.
We’ll see what they’re made of, and how Mike Brown can guide them through their roughest patch of the season.
