Consider that 50-27 Detroit is the best team in the East and lines up with five NBA All Stars. Then consider that the Knicks were missing four of their top five scorers plus rampaging rookie energizer Renaldo Balkman (stomach virus) who’s pretty much been their most indispensable player of late.

“Our margin of error is very slim,” Coach Isiah Thomas said. “The little things add up in a course of a game end up giving the other team two or three extra points. Those type of things end up hurting you in the long run. That being said, we were playing against a very good team in Detroit. When it came down to the last three minutes of the game we saw exactly how good they are.”

The Pistons outscored the young Knicks12-4 during the end-run, led by Rip Hamilton’s two wide open jumpers and a Rasheed Wallace thunder-dunk on a follow-up of a Rip miss.

“We are playing with a lot of different lineups,” said Thomas. “We are asking our power forwards to match up with guards. A couple of times we lost them.”

“They ran their zone offense very well,” added Knicks forward Channing Frye. ”They are a good team that’s going to get some open shots. They did a great job on getting offensive rebounds as well. Actually, they are a great team.”

New York played a great first quarter against this great team, trailing just 24-23 at the end of one. The Knicks did an excellent job both in attacking the basket and dominating the boards, shooting 52.6 per cent and out-rebounding their opponent 12-5 as a result.

Frye shot ball well from the outside, tallying 8 points and grabbing 4 rebounds. Only consecutive turnovers on the last two possessions put the Knicks in arrears.

However, with New York up 29-26, Detroit went on a powerhouse 15-2 run to assume a 41-31 lead. The Pistons led 45-36 with just 2.8 seconds to go till halftime when a court-long football pass by rookie Mardy Collins found Eddy Curry who heaved in a seven-foot floating half-hook to just beat the buzzer.

The Knicks were within 7 -- but given the talent-differential on paper and the one-sided course the game has taken in the second quarter, it was difficult to envision anything but an honorable blowout -- at best.

The young New Yorkers, however, had a different idea, and then some. Suddenly discovering that oh-so-elusive offensive chemistry with a lineup of Nate Robinson, the just-returned Steve Francis, Malik Rose, Curry and Collins, they came up with a third quarter for the ages, scoring 32 of the next 45 points in running up an astonishing 68-58 lead. Robinson, with 14 points in the quarter, got ridiculously hot on the perimeter (5-6 shooting, 3-3 treys) while Curry provided a powerful inside counterpoint with 10 points. Rose contributed 5 rebounds and several clever veteran plays that had the sell-out crowd in a fine frenzy.

The Pistons then burst back huge, exploding to a 17-2 avalanche that had them up 75-70. Another Robinson trey and tough baskets by Rose and Collins had the Knicks back in a 79-79 tie -- but then the Pistons’ superior experience and talent told the final story in the end.

“We gave a great effort,” said Curry. “But Detroit is a great team.”

Robinson, coming off of a career high 34-point game in Milwaukee, led the Knicks with 24 points. Curry, also off of a 43-point lifetime pinnacle, had 24 as well while the nicely developing Collins had 10 points, 6 assists, and 3 steals.

“When we started the season I did not think Mardy would be playing this much for us or this well for us,’’ said Thomas. “With the injuries, he is definitely a silver lining in a dark cloud.”