Knicks visit slumping Pistons, look to clinch No. 3 seed

The New York Knicks visit Detroit on Thursday to face the Pistons. Chances are, the Knicks will be making a return trip very soon.

The two Eastern Conference teams likely are to face each other in the first round of the playoffs.

The Knicks (50-29) currently hold the third seed by two games over Indiana with three games to play. New York holds the tiebreaker over the Pacers after winning the season series, 2-1. A victory on Thursday would lock New York into the third spot.

Detroit (43-36) sits in the sixth spot, two games behind Milwaukee. The Pistons will play the Bucks on Friday and Sunday after their matchup against New York.

The Knicks had the Pistons' number for several years but not this season. New York won its 16th straight against the Pistons on Nov. 1, 128-98, in their last journey to Detroit.

The Pistons defeated the Knicks for the first time since the 2019-20 season on Dec. 7 with a 120-111 victory in New York. Detroit prevailed at Madison Square Garden once again on Jan. 13, 124-119.

Cade Cunningham has given the Knicks fits this season. Detroit's All-Star guard has averaged 29.0 points, 8.3 assists and 6.0 rebounds against them.

The Pistons have lost four of their last five games, including two straight at home. Memphis downed them, 109-103, on Saturday and Sacramento topped them, 127-117, on Monday.

In the latter contest, Detroit squandered an 18-point lead, getting outscored 65-45 in the second half.

"We slowed down offensively. But again, our offense starts with our defense getting stops and allowing us to get out in transition," coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "I thought defensively, we just let down."

Cunningham carried the offense with 35 points. He, too, believes the team needs to reestablish its defensive principles heading into the playoffs.

"We're in the same spot. We're confident. We're hungry," he said. "We are looking forward to getting better each and every game. The last two games being losses, obviously that's not the outcome we wanted, but it's still something we can take away from both of them. We're going to watch the film on this, take as much as we can away from it and be better for these last three games."

The Knicks lost in overtime to Boston on Tuesday, 119-117. Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum knocked down a 3-point attempt with 2.9 seconds remaining to force overtime and New York also gave up a key 3-pointer to Kristaps Porzingis in the last minute of OT.

"We don't take moral victories," big man Karl-Anthony Towns said. "I thought we did a good job meeting their aggression. ... Just an all-around better game, execution, it gave us a chance to win, but they're a great team. Give them credit where credit is due. Defending champions did exactly what defending champions do."

If seedings hold, the Knicks would play the defending champions in the second round. But they have plenty of work to do before that potential matchup, mainly against the team they're facing on Thursday.

"I don't think there's anything really positive about it," forward Josh Hart said of Tuesday's loss. "I think we're playing good basketball, and that's where we want to be toward the end of the year going into the playoffs. ... We didn't play well enough to win. We've got to continue to build."

--Field Level Media