NEW YORK – The Eastern Conference playoff field remains crowded and the Pistons are in the thick of it, though they made their job that much tougher with Saturday’s loss at the world’s most famous arena. But it’s not quite as crowded as it was a few months ago, when New York and Orlando made it 12 teams for eight postseason berths.
How the Knicks managed to fall out of the race is a great mystery to the Pistons, because in their three meetings this season they might as well have been the Knicks of Red Holtzman, Willis Reed and Walt “Clyde” Frazier.
Two of the least competitive games the Pistons have played all season have come at Madison Square Garden, and in the lone Detroit win over the Knicks the Pistons squandered all of a 27-point lead and needed clutch play from 19-year-old Stanley Johnson to save them from a humiliating loss at The Palace.
But Johnson wasn’t around to save them Saturday, missing his fifth game with a right shoulder sprain, and Stan Van Gundy could have used a few more perimeter options on a night starters Marcus Morris, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson shot a miserable 8 of 37 and 1 of 13 from the 3-point line.
“And their guys had 51 points and 13 assists,” Van Gundy noted after the 102-89 loss to a team that came into the game 13 games under .500. “We got dominated on the perimeter. Dominated. We didn’t have a single one of those guys play well. Off the bench, Steve (Blake) played well; Reggie Bullock played well. But our starters on the perimeter were obviously horrendous.”
Horrendous. A few other adjectives Van Gundy used to describe the game: ridiculous, terrible and embarrassing.
“It’s a game that we needed,” said Tobias Harris, who wasn’t with the Pistons in their prior two meetings with the Knicks and was one of their bright spots with 18 points and eight rebounds, hitting 6 of 12 shots and getting to the line for eight free throws. “Our energy wasn’t there from the beginning of the game. Focus level wasn’t really there. Any time we don’t have enough energy or we’re not playing as hard as we can, it’s not the formula to win games.”
The Knicks got off to a strong start by playing offense through ex-Pistons shooting guard Arron Afflalo against Caldwell-Pope. Afflalo hit 7 of 10 shots in scoring 19 points in the second half of the Pistons’ skin-of-their-teeth win at The Palace and scored 11 in the first quarter to allow the Knicks to seize control early.
Afflalo finished with 20 points, Carmelo Anthony with 24 and Robin Lopez with 21 points and nine rebounds. The three combined to make 29 of 43 shots.
“They dominate us,” Van Gundy said. “We can’t play Arron Afflalo and Carmelo Anthony. We have nobody to play those two guys and Robin Lopez always plays great against Andre (Drummond). Always.”
Drummond put up big numbers with 21 points and 16 rebounds, doing the bulk of his damage on his nine offensive rebounds. But it took him 20 shots to get to 21 points and he and Harris were the only starters who approached efficiency. Jackson had a particularly rough night, shooting 3 of 17, missing all six of his 3-point attempts and then seeing several good shots from inside the arc spin out.
“We had some quick ones, some tough ones that didn’t go in,” he said of the quality of shots the Pistons had on a night they shot 39 percent to New York’s 53 percent. “Just some forced shots. But we felt like we took quite a few of our attempts. Just felt like there was a lid on the basket tonight.”
Blake and Bullock rallied the Pistons late in the third and early in the fourth quarters. Two Blake triples allowed them to close the third quarter on a 6-0 run to get within nine, then a 7-2 spurt capped by a Bullock triple to open the fourth pulled them within four. But the Knicks just as quickly went on a 13-2 run to again lead by 15 with Morris missing two shots and Caldwell-Pope and Jackson one apiece around a Harris turnover.
“We made one run in the entire game,” Van Gundy said. “I’m not impressed.”
“Just happy to be playing tomorrow,” Jackson said. “Definitely got to put this behind us and learn from it. That’s what you’ve got to love about the NBA. You always get another chance at it.”
Well, not always. The Pistons squandered one golden chance at a precious win here. They’ve got to make it up somewhere in the 20 games left with a playoff berth at stake. At least they don’t play the Knicks again.