The New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons will collide on Saturday in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
The Knicks are the heavy favorite to win the series, as they hold the number three seed in the Eastern Conference finishing with a 51-31 record.
However, it won’t be as easy as some may think as the Pistons won the regular season series against New York, taking 3 of 4 games.
The Pistons shocked basketball fans this season by finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 44-38 record. It’s the team’s first winning season since the 2015-16 season when they finished 44-38.
The team is led by head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, who has done an incredible job this season. After amassing a record of 170-159 record in five seasons in Cleveland, Bickerstaff inherited a 14-68 team and amazingly turned it around by winning 30 more games in his first season with the team.
Detroit is led by rising star and former number-one overall pick, Cade Cunningham, who’s averaging 26.1 ppg along with 9.1 apg and 6.1 rpg all while shooting just under 47% from the field and 35.6% from the three-point line.
Cunningham is viewed as one of the best young stars in the NBA. With his great playmaking ability and his height and athleticism at the guard position, he can be an elite player for many years.
Many outside of Detroit haven’t seen him, but with a strong first-round series against Jalen Brunson and the Knicks, Cunningham could cement himself in the league as a true star. And after three straight years of losing, it’s something he desperately wants and deserves.
But to do that, he will need his teammates like Malik Beasley, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duran to show up in the series, especially as New York has homecourt advantage.
Cunningham and Thompson are young but they performed well against the Knicks this season, so they have the chance to upset the Knicks in the playoffs.
To do that, they will have to stop All-Stars Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony-Towns, who, this season, became the Knicks’ first due to start in an All-Star Game since Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe in 1975.
Brunson averaged 26.0 ppg and 7.3 apg while KAT averaged a double-double of 24.8 ppg and 12.8 rpg.
The Knicks are expected to win the series, especially with the cast surrounding the team’s two All-Stars, but Cunningham and the Pistons aren’t afraid, so fans should expect a physical and intense first-round match-up starting at MSG on Saturday evening.
