Knicks sit Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson, lose to Pistons in likely first-round preview
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau shouts at an official during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Detroit. Credit: AP/Duane Burleson
DETROIT — The Knicks and Pistons faced off at Little Caesars Arena in what is almost certainly a preview of a first-round playoff matchup.
And only one thing that you saw Thursday night in the Pistons’ 115-106 win even remotely resembled what you’ll see next weekend when it begins — a glimpse of the physicality that the Pistons have played with this season.
The Knicks missed out on a chance to lock in the third seed in the Eastern Conference, a spot that has seemed a fait accompli since December when they moved into that spot. With Indiana beating Cleveland, the Knicks’ magic number remains one to secure the third spot. And the Pistons remain alive to jump up to the fifth seed, even as they entered the night two games back of Milwaukee with three games left.
The lineups the Knicks put on display bore no resemblance to the rotation that Tom Thibodeau will employ in the postseason. Thibodeau never tanks a game, insisting that he believes in the next man up and preaching that the Knicks have more than enough of them. That may all be true, but he certainly didn’t employ his most representative squad Thursday.
The Knicks sat Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson — although Thibodeau claimed that those were medical staff decisions, as if he couldn’t bring himself to say he was giving a rest day ahead of the playoffs. And after starting Deuce McBride and Precious Achiuwa in place of Hart and Anunoby, Thibodeau continued to put a giveaway night feel to the game, even after the Knicks built a 13 point lead early before giving it all away.
“You just gotta be ready to play,” Thibodeau said. “Whoever they have out there, whoever we have out there, that’s the challenge that you’re facing right now.”
P.J. Tucker, who had played just two minutes all season and hadn’t scored in a year to the day, came in in the first quarter and played 16 first-half minutes, more than Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns, and finished with 27 minutes. In the end, Towns had 25 points and 10 rebounds while Brunson had 15 points, struggling through a 5-for-15 shooting performance in 29 minutes.
It’s understandable that with the two on a path toward an opening-round playoff matchup neither coach wanted to show their hand and provide a scouting blueprint. While the Pistons played their regular rotation they weren’t about to experiment with strategies to tease the potential series.
“That’s Pistons basketball,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “I thought in the past couple of games we’ve been in a position where we’ve been trying to trade punches, but that’s not who we are.That’s not what makes us unique. . . . The second half, we played our style. We brought the fight to our type of fight. Defensively is where it always starts for us.
“If we think we’re just going to go out there and trade baskets, that’s not who we are. Everything we do starts with our willingness to compete on the defensive end of the floor, and that’s what makes us unique. We’re not like your typical NBA team. That’s not who we are, and we can’t afford to play that way. But if it comes down to grit, toughness and competition, I like our chances.”
Thibodeau echoed that sentiment.
“It doesn’t change your approach or anything,” Thibodeau said. “You go through the finish line into the next game prepared like you would do for every game. Don’t change anything and understand what goes into winning. Anytime someone’s out, it’s an opportunity for someone else to step in. Understand what your job is, go in there and do your job.”
But there were certainly things the Knicks could glean from this game. First, they’d better have their best defenders — with size — ready to defend Cade Cunningham, who poured in 36 points.
And with the Pistons putting out a regular rotation, the Knicks could get a hint of how hard they play -an updated version of Bad Boys squads still beloved in Detroit - right to the final bucket, a lob dunk by Jalen Duren to punctuate the night.
“I think whoever we play in the playoffs it’s going to be feisty,” Detroit’s Ron Holland said. “That’s just how we play. We bring that Detroit Bad Boys, Detroit grit to every single game that we play, and if New York is the team that we end up playing we’re going to bring it every night.”
“They just out-toughed us,” Tucker said. “They did. The whole fourth quarter. We kept it close but they just out-toughed us. That’s something we got to address . . . I just feel like down in the trenches like that in the playoffs this year, they’re not calling nothing. They’re letting a lot of stuff go right now and I like it. The refs are letting a lot of stuff go both ways. With that happening, guys got to play different. We got to play different. We got to toughen up. It’s more physical. We got to toughen up.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
