The New York Knicks have advanced to the second round of the playoffs after defeating the Detroit Pistons 4-2. This series was one of the more physical battles in the entire opening round, with each game coming down to the very wire. Game 6 was no different. Jalen Brunson hit a clutch three-pointer to give New York the lead with only a few seconds to go. Unfortunately, the excitement ended shortly after Brunson’s miraculous shot.
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The Pistons inbounded the ball with 4.3 seconds left and immediately got it into the hands of Cade Cunningham. As the Knicks closed in on the double-team, Cunningham swung the ball to the right, where a wide-open Malik Beasley stood to potentially nail a game-tying three. But Beasley never got to take the shot, because the pass bounced off his hands and went out of bounds for a Detroit turnover with 0.4 seconds left. Pistons never saw the ball again.
Fans are livid at Beasley for fumbling the pass on what would have been a decent look to send the game to overtime. Infamous parody X (fka Twitter) account NBA Centel has already trolled Beasley by resharing the clip and calling him “clutch.”
The turnover ended a disastrous 4th quarter for Beasley, who finished with zero points on only two field goal attempts. Fortunately for the 28-year-old, some fans are placing blame elsewhere.
“That’s a horrendous pass from Cade,” wrote one user on X.
That’s a horrendous pass from Cade
— PayneHoops (@CookedByPayne) May 2, 2025
A different person made more of an explanation as to why Cunningham deserves more of the blame. “This pass needs to be near his chest, and Beasley has a high arc on his shot so no way he was ever catching this pass.”
When looking at the play, it seems to be more of an act of God rather than a bad play by either of the Pistons’ stars. Beasley 100% should have fielded the pass and put up the shot. On the other hand, Cade could have delivered it in a better position. Regardless, what happened happened, and the Pistons are going home.
That’s not to take anything away from the Knicks. They went on an 8-1 run in under two minutes to tie the game before Brunson hit his miraculous three-ball. New York will now have to try and slay the dragon that is the defending 2024 champions, the Boston Celtics.
The Knicks were unable to defeat Boston this year in the regular season, but obviously this will be a series, so anything is possible. That said, Boston’s firepower from behind the arc is crazy, so the Knicks will have to play A-plus ball each game if they hope to have a shot.
But for at least one night, the city of Manhattan is getting filled up with excited New Yorkers, including Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, and Timothy Chalamet, who are all screaming “BING BONG” at the top of their lungs.
