NBA Matchups: April 24

NYK @ DET | OKC @ MEM | DEN @ LAC

New York Knicks at Detroit Pistons

Team Totals: Knicks 107.8, Pistons 106.3

Injury Report: Isaiah Stewart (Q, knee)

Pistons projected starters: Cade Cunningham, Tim Hardaway Jr., Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren

Knicks projected starters: Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns

Offensive Ranks: Pistons 16th, Knicks 5th
Defensive Ranks: Pistons 11th, Knicks 12th

Bickerstaff quotes: Said they had a “business-like mentality” to get a split in NYC, said Schroder is clutch in big games and he’s fearless, said Tobias was physical with KAT and he made him earn everything, said they were trying to take away C&S treys on KAT with Tobias, said Duren set the tone for the game and he was dominant in the paint area, said Reed made an impact for them in the paint, said they don’t want to call off Ausar because they have depth behind him (Schroder), said Cade “is a superstar” and he knew how aggressive he had to be. 

Thibs quotes: Said the rebounding was problematic for them, said the Mikal open 3-pointer late was a great shot, said “it’s that simple” that the refs need to call it fair with the Pistons getting to the line more, said “Mitch was the one guy rebounding” and that’s why he played more, said Cade “got to the line a lot” for a great game, said they have to fix rebounding and their turnovers really hurt them.

Stats and Notes:

*The Pistons almost blew another lead in MSG and had just enough to even the series 1-1. As Thibs notes, the Pistons destroyed the Knicks on the boards and won the FTA battle 34-19. Jalen Brunson still had 11 FTAs, but the rest of the team managed just eight and only Josh Hart had more than two (zero from KAT, Mikal; two from OG). The Pistons were not great at keeping teams off the line with 24.3 attempts per game to rank 28th, while the Knicks were excellent at 19.5 to rank fourth — that’ll happen in the playoffs. While that edge was a surprise, it wasn’t that big of a surprise to see the Pistons crush on the boards, as they have done it all season. They’ll have a chance to have another edge there, and the Pistons have also been really good on the ball since the deadline with Dennis Schroder and Ausar Thompson getting more playing time. Both of these defenses have been awesome at not leaving shooters open with Detroit at 11.5 wide-open 3PAs and the Knicks right behind them at 12.0, the two lowest marks of the postseason so far. It’s been a PG-driven series so far and that likely won’t change.