NEW YORK – The Detroit Pistons spent the first half of the season establishing themselves as the surprise favourite in the Eastern Conference – and the biggest roadblock in the New York Knicks’ quest to make the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals for the first time this century.
The Knicks will get one more chance to make a statement against the visiting Pistons on Feb 19 (Feb 20, Singapore time) when both teams return from the All-Star Break.
Both squads went into the break with road wins on Feb 11. The Knicks routed the Philadelphia 76ers 138-89 and the Pistons beat the Toronto Raptors 113-95.
The convincing victory in Philadelphia concluded an impressive pre-break recovery for the Knicks, who lost nine of 11 from Dec 31 through Jan 19 but have gone 10-2 since. New York will enter Feb 19 a half-game behind the second-place Boston Celtics and 4½ games clear of the sixth-place 76ers, who occupy the East’s final guaranteed play-off spot.
The surge was bookended by the two most lopsided wins in team history. The Knicks beat the Brooklyn Nets 120-66 on Jan. 21.
The red-hot run featured eight double-digit victories, including another two by at least 30 points – a 127-97 trouncing of the Portland Trail Blazers on Jan 30 and a 132-101 rout of the Washington Wizards on Feb 3.
The Knicks’ revival has been keyed by a vastly improved defence. New York allowed fewer than 110 points nine times in the last 12 games, after doing so just 11 times in the first 43 games.
“Everybody expects us to go up the whole year and win it all,” head coach Mike Brown said of the Knicks, who reached the conference finals last year for the first time since 2000.
“But this is a process. We’re going to (go) up, we’re going to take a step backwards, we’re going to figure it out.”
Detroit are the one foe the Knicks have yet to figure out. The Pistons’ rapid rise to contention included a pair of convincing home wins over New York by scores of 121-90 on Jan 5 and 118-80 on Feb 6.
The Pistons, who are two years removed from going a franchise-worst 14-68, have the best record in the NBA at 40-13, percentage points ahead of the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder (42-14). Detroit have lost back-to-back games just twice and have yet to drop three in a row.
As with the Knicks, the improvement for Detroit is rooted in defence. The Pistons are allowing 109.3 points per game, the third-lowest figure in the NBA and nearly 10 points fewer than what they allowed in 2023-24.
But the rematch with the Knicks will mark the beginning of a challenging stretch for the Pistons. Centre Isaiah Stewart remains suspended for the next six games – five against prospective play-off teams – for his role in the brawl with the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 9.
Detroit will also be without All-Star Jalen Duren, who is completing a two-game suspension stemming from his involvement in the fracas.
Stewart and Duran are combining for 27.7 points, 15.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
“I guess you can kind of understand it from the league’s perspective. I would have liked to see Stew’s number be less,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said before the win over the Raptors.
“As a group, we accepted it for what it is. Our guys will continue to do what they do and be who they are.”
Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings have been hit by season-ending injuries to key players.
Dallas Mavericks said Irving will miss the rest of the season as he continues to recover from knee surgery in March.
Nine-time All-Star Irving has not played this season as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn left anterior cruciate ligament.
Sacramento, losers of 14 straight and at the bottom of the NBA standings, lost stars Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine to season-ending surgeries on Feb 18.
Sabonis, a three-time All-Star, had an operation to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He had returned to action in mid-January after missing 27 games following the mid-November injury.
LaVine, a two-time All-Star guard who turns 31 on March 10, had been in and out of the line-up for 10 games because of a tendon injury in his right hand before selecting surgery.
Elsewhere in the NBA, Charlotte’s star guard LaMelo Ball was involved in a two-car accident in Uptown Charlotte on Feb 18, according to multiple media reports.
Ball appeared uninjured as he exited his custom 2022 Hummer from the driver’s side door shortly after the accident. The driver of the other vehicle was reportedly taken to the hospital with non-life- threatening injuries. REUTERS, AFP