The first Detroit Pistons home playoff game at Little Caesars Arena in six years had plenty of fireworks, was heated and physical with plenty of momentum shifting moments.
The Pistons had to fight from behind the eight ball and took on the personality of their blue-collar city, playing uphill most of the night and their last-ditch effort came up short.
The New York Knicks had four players with 20 or more points led by Karl-Anthony Towns with 31 and just barely held on to defeat the Pistons 118-116 in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
The Knicks lead the series 2-1 heading into Game 4 Sunday at Little Caesars Arena (1 p.m. ET, ABC).
“I thought the way we started the game was much better,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “And we made timely plays down the stretch.”
The Pistons could not build off their Game 2 victory at Madison Square Garden, even with all the Detroit basketball legends in attendance, such as Rick Mahorn, Jalen Rose and Chris Webber. Basketball legends Patrick Ewing and Tim Hardaway Sr. were also in attendance. Detroit was trailing from the start, clawing back to briefly take the lead by four, and then playing catch-up the rest of the night, trailing by as many as 14.
The Knicks had several opportunities to put the game away, but the Pistons still had an inbounds play from the backcourt with .5 seconds remaining on the clock, down by two. Center Jalen Duren turned it over, however, trying to inbound to Cade Cunningham.
Cunningham had a double-double with 24 points and 10 helpers but committed six costly turnovers. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 18 of his 24 points in the first half, after going scoreless in the last game. Dennis Schroder once again came up huge off the bench with 18 points.
But the usually reliable Tobias Harris, who is a Long Island native, picked the wrong time to have his worst game of the series, five points on 2-of-9 from the field, and Malik Beasley, 12 points on 4-of-14, struggled to score.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Pistons have lost eight consecutive home playoff games dating back to nearly two decades, in 2008. That is one short of the NBA record set by the Philadelphia 76ers from 1968-71.
The Pistons missed their enforcer Isaiah Stewart for the second game in a row due to right knee inflammation but made one final push to cut their deficit to 108-105 on a putback slam by Duren (16 points) and layup by Cunningham. The Knicks extended the lead before Beasley’s 3-pointer with 5.8 seconds left, getting the Pistons back to within three.
Jalen Brunson made a pair of layups and four clutch free throws down the stretch and finished with 30 points. OG Anunoby scored 21 points and Mikal Bridges 20 for the Knicks.
Brunson made one of two free throws with 3.5 seconds left for a four-point lead after Detroit’s coaches, players and fans were screaming for an over-and-back violation to be called.
“If you catch the ball, have possession and put it down, to me, that’s possession in the front court,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
An eventful and heated first half ended with the Knicks ahead by 13, 66-53.
Things boiled over a few times, first between Harris and Towns and then between Paul Reed and Towns. During the latter, Reed and Mitchell Robinson got tangled up and exchanged unpleasantries before Towns stepped in and shoved Reed, who needed to be restrained. All three were assessed technical fouls.
The Pistons, after trailing nearly the entire half, stormed back to take a 42-39 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Hardaway, who had 18 points and made all five of his threes in the half. The Knicks, however, closed the half on a 16-4 run.
Bridges engineered the rally with a steal and layup followed by a 3-pointer.
Harris (0 points) and Beasley combined for only three points on 1-of-11 shooting.
The Pistons desperately needed Schroder’s sharp-shooting off the bench (13 points including 3-of-4 from distance).
