The Detroit Pistons thrived in a playoff-style atmosphere on Thursday. Their last two regular-season games could have postseason implications as well.
Detroit faces the Milwaukee Bucks in back-to-back games on Friday and Sunday.
The first of those games will be held in Detroit, with the rematch in Milwaukee.
If the Pistons (44-36) win both contests, they would be the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and the Bucks would drop to No. 6. If Milwaukee (46-34) wins at least one of those matchups, it will retain the No. 5 spot and Detroit would be the sixth seed.
Both Central Division teams won Thursday night, but the Pistons had the tougher assignment. They defeated the visiting Knicks, who have the third-best record in the East, 115-106. Detroit, which had lost its previous two games at home, outscored New York 59-44 in the second half.
“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.”
On offense, it often starts with Cade Cunningham, and that was the case once again. Cunningham scored 20 of his 36 points in the second half. Jalen Duren provided some inside punch by making all nine of his field-goal attempts while logging 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Detroit also got a boost from Ronald Holland II. The rookie contributed 13 points off the bench, including back-to-back layups in the fourth quarter.
“It was a playoff atmosphere first of all,” Holland said. “We know that’s a potential team we could probably end up seeing. I think we’ve been doing a good job of handling adversity all year. We’ve been growing as a team, as a collective and as a unit.”
They will need to play that way twice more to move up in the seedings. The Bucks have an 11-game winning streak against the Pistons. Dating back to the 2018-19 season, the Bucks have defeated the Pistons in 23 of the past 24 meetings.
Milwaukee cruised to a 136-111 home win over the lottery-bound New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way with 28 points and 11 rebounds as the Bucks stretched their winning streak to six games.
Coach Doc Rivers didn’t play any of his starters more than 28 minutes. Kevin Porter Jr. had a big game off the bench with 20 points, seven assists, five rebounds and five steals. Reserves Gary Trent Jr. and Bobby Portis supplied a combined 31 points.
The intensity level will now ratchet up as the Bucks look to continue their dominance over the league’s most improved team.
“It’s going to be a great experience. I’m looking forward to it,” Rivers said. “I think the crowd in Detroit is going to be amazing. (The Pistons are) going to play hard. They’re going to play well. And we’re going to have to match it.”