The list of Detroit pistons A bunch of young fresh rowders with an atmosphere in playoffs, with all that that implies – good and bad. They do not know what they do not know, which is often a prosperous state of mind: many games have been lost knowing that you are supposed to lose it, and many matches won by the weightlessness of happy ignorance. Expectations can also be a burden. But hoping without gravity only lasts so long. Finally, especially on the road, the noise is built and the pressure increases and the more experienced opponents are prepared against the wilting, and suddenly, the awareness of “what is supposed to happen” ceases to function, because the thing begins to happen anyway. During a racing of 21-0 in the fourth quarter which led to a victory of 123-112 in New York, the Knicks offered the pistons a correction for the first three quarters, a demonstration of the unpredictability of basketball in the playoffs and a lesson that the 48 minutes are not equal.
The Knicks’ defensive strategy was obvious from the start: making life difficult in Cadenningham. The pistons have a shortage in ways to beat the teams, and the Knicks were intentional to close their primary weapon of 26 pp, with OG Anunoby obtaining frequent aid from the cities of Karl-Anthony each time Cunningham broke on a screen. But Cunningham was usually content to pass pressure, because his comrades struck their blows. Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley – the team veterans, probably not by coincidence – were 20 out of 33 on the field after three quarters, and striking better than 50% of their three.
Detroit brought an eight -point lead in the fourth, when the pressure started to say – the pressure of the defensive knicks, and perhaps the nerves to close a eliminatory match. The district has seriously started for the pistons, if you believe in the omens: a violation of five seconds on the inbounds. On the following possession, a violation of a clock. Two possessions later, Ausar Thompson missed an open dunk. These are no longer the cool pistons and collected from the first three quarters, taking advantage of each opportunity. These looked like – well, like children finally leaning under the weight of the moment. “For the majority, we did a very good job while staying there,” said Harris later, without saying what happened in the rest.
But the score still reflected an advance of pistons, which was eight points with 9:16 to do. Which has evaporated like isopropyl alcohol. During the four and a half minutes that followed, the Knicks scored 21 points unanswered to put away the reached degrees.
They did it with a two -point programming, Jalen Brunson shaking his first cold shot to finish with a 34 -year -old summit, and Cam Payne having a quarter of his life, marking nine during the road race around 14 points in his 15 minutes of action. The two alternated buckets, mixed with a couple Josh Hart Layups, and before the pistons knew, their 98-90 advance had become 111-98, Knicks.
“Defensively, this is where we made this race,” insisted Hart, and he is right. The continuous commitment of the Knicks to force the ball away from Cunningham has finally paid off, the Harris-Hardaway-Beasley trio combining only two shots in the fourth. Cunningham began to get his counting numbers, which suggests that JB Bickerstaff could have some tips in his sleeve. A series concerns counter-movements and couples. “Eliminatory basketball concerns the way you react,” said Harris, one of the pistons with a first-hand experience. The way the pistons come out in match 2 will greatly help determine if they find the lights of the scene that are too hot, or simply on the right.
