The Detroit Pistons are set to face the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs. The three and six seeds of the Eastern Conference will begin their series on Saturday, April 19th, with game one in New York. However, after last year’s overpowering travel by Knicks fans, the Pistons’ brass is finding a new way to keep their home advantage strong.
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The Pistons and Knicks don’t have much playoff history. Their last matchup was a nail-biting 3-2 victory for New York in the first round in 1992. However, last season saw Knicks fans travel incredibly well, so, ahead of the upcoming duel, Detroit is making some pre-series preparations.
The Philadelphia 76ers were the first to feel the pivotal factor of Knicks fans, losing in six games. Kelly Oubre Jr. had come out and called Knicks fans fake, then saw them respond by taking over the Wells Fargo Center. In a series that very nearly went to seven games, it was the fans who made the difference and pushed the Knicks to win two games on the road.
The same thing happened in the second round, in which New Yorkers made their way to Indiana. While the Knicks failed to win this series largely due to injuries, they still had fans showing up in droves, even as they were away.
The Pistons are trying to avoid this, and they have limited ticket sales in the Little Caesars Arena to billing addresses in the greater Detroit area. The restriction only allows people to buy tickets if they are from Michigan or certain parts of Ohio, Indiana, or Ontario, Canada.
It’s an ambitious gambit, but it’s unclear if this is allowed. If it continues, it may result in the funniest secondhand ticket market since StubHub started selling NBA tickets for $1.
The comments on a post made in the r/NBA subreddit all seemed to find the choice somewhere between comedic and genius. The top comment, with over six thousand upvotes, celebrated the decision while poking fun at how expensive it is to go to a Pistons game now. “hell yeah. those new yorkers can overpay to get into the garden like the rest of us,” they mused.
But, the best insight came from a fan who compared this to what many international soccer teams do. “idk why this isn’t normalized in basketball,” they said, and continued, “when in soccer every team sells most of their tickets to their home fans and the rest is allocated to the away fans.”
Another poster agreed that “This should be the norm.”
Whatever the effect, the Pistons and Knicks are expected to have a tight matchup in the first round as Cade Cunningham and the new age Bad Boys go to war with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
