With less than a minute to go, the Detroit Pistons were on the brink of losing a second straight playoff game to a furious New York Knicks comeback. Then Dennis Schroder coolly drained a game-winner.
Schroder made his third three-pointer of the game with 55 seconds to to, giving the Pistons a 97-94 lead on their way to a 100-94 victory in Game 2 of their first-round series Monday night.
The Pistons’ backup guard saved the day after the Knicks erased a 13-point Detroit lead in the last seven minutes.
Schroder finished with 20 points as the Pistons won their first playoff game since the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals, breaking a 15-game playoff losing streak. His go-ahead three-pointer was the Pistons’ first made jump shot since his own three-pointer, nine minutes earlier.
Cade Cunningham led the way with 33 points and 12 rebounds for the Pistons, who won a game that had the physicality of a 90’s Knicks-Pistons game, complete with the low scoring totals.
Detroit won while making only six three-pointers and delivering only 11 assists, because its offense came from Cunningham’s relentless drives.
But it outrebounded the Knicks, 48-34, and got to the foul line for 34 free throw attempts. Detroit’s defensive pressure held the Knicks to 42% shooting and went 28.6% from three-point range.
The Pistons held on through another furious Knicks comeback. Two days after New York rode a 21-0 run to a Game 1 win, the Knicks put together a 15-4 run, with Brunson scoring 14 of his 37 points in the quarter.
But while the Knicks’ bench came through Saturday, with Cameron Payne scoring 14 points, it was the Pistons who got big games from their backups Monday. Schroder had 20, while Paul Reed, who didn’t play at all Saturday, shot 3-for-4 with a steal and a block and logged a +13 in his 11 minutes, frustrating Karl-Anthony Towns.
The series heads back to Detroit on Thursday, where the team has a chance to do something unprecedented in recent Pistons history: Having a winning streak in the playoffs.
