Before this season began, the New York Knicks were thought of as the favorites to win the East. And it was easy to see why. They were coming off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance and returning with a core that included Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, and OG Anunoby.
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The Knicks have been good so far, but far from dominant. In fact, they haven’t looked at all like the best team in the East. That would be the Detroit Pistons, who are seven games ahead of the Knicks and 5.5 games ahead of the second-place Celtics for the 1-seed in the conference.
The Pistons haven’t just been better overall; they’ve absolutely destroyed the Knicks in their head-to-head matchups. Thursday night was their final one of the season, and it went much like the first two, with a double-digit Detroit win.
Cade Cunningham continued his MVP-quality season with 42 points, 8 rebounds, and 13 assists, silencing the Madison Square Garden crowd as he repeatedly got to whatever spot he wanted. Brunson’s 33 weren’t nearly enough to keep the Knicks in it.
Danny Green spoke on the No Fouls Given podcast about this lopsided rivalry. “That’s the definition of belt. That is belt to a**,” Green said. “That’s unacceptable, bro. That is unacceptable.”
Green also dismissed any excuses the Knicks might have, since they haven’t been at full strength for all three matchups. He simply pointed out that the Pistons were missing their young star centers, Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart, for this game due to suspension. That didn’t stop them from another easy win.
“Bro, what?!” asked Green. “Right after the break, y’all get smacked at home, with their two best defensive, rebounding players off the court?”
The Pistons were the up-and-coming team last season, and they gave the heavily-favored Knicks a hard-fought six-game series in the first round before coming up short. Now, it seems that they’ve leapfrogged New York in a big way, as their average margin of victory in this season’s three matchups is 28 points.
Green has been a Knicks believer this season, but last night’s game seems to have finally broken his confidence.v“I had New York as my favorites coming out of the East,” he said.
“After this, it’s shaky, bro. They better hope they don’t see Detroit in the playoffs because Cade Cunningham, every time he sees a Knicks jersey, he’s pulling out multiple belts,” Green added.
As it stands right now, the Pistons and Knicks couldn’t meet until the conference finals. However, that could change by the next game. The Knicks are currently tied with the red-hot Cavaliers for third in the East. If they slip below them, they’d be on a second-round collision course with Detroit, provided they could even make it past the dangerous Raptors or the Sixers in the first round.
This season hasn’t gone the way Knicks fans hoped it would. But there’s still some time to figure things out under new head coach Mike Brown.
Green is right, though. They’d better hope they don’t match up with the Pistons when it matters most, because even Knicks great Carmelo Anthony thinks the Pistons are a title-worthy team.
