DETROIT — The New York Knicks left Little Caesars Arena on Monday night with their longest skid of the season after a 121-90 defeat to the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons.
The loss was New York’s fourth in a row, dropping the club to 23-13 and pushing the Boston Celtics ahead of them for second place in the conference. Detroit, playing without injured starters Jalen Duren and Tobias Harris as well as reserve Caris LeVert, controlled the rematch of last spring’s first-round playoff series from start to finish.
Key numbers
- Pistons 121, Knicks 90
- Rebounds: Detroit 44, New York 30
- Field-goal percentage: Detroit above 50% overall and from three-point range
- Cade Cunningham: 29 points, 13 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks
- Jalen Brunson: 25 points, 0 assists, 6 turnovers
- Karl-Anthony Towns: 23 minutes, 9 points, 6 turnovers, minus-27
“A lot needs to be addressed,” guard Jalen Brunson said after a brief players-only conversation inside the locker room. “If we want to be the team we say we want to be, we have to be better, simple as that.”
Towns echoed the frustration. “It’s cool to be in a funk; stuff happens in a season,” he said. “But this is a bad, bad time. You can’t be this bad.”
The Knicks have struggled defensively since swingman Josh Hart went down, surrendering 130 points to Philadelphia on Saturday and 134 to San Antonio on New Year’s Eve. Against Detroit, New York committed 20 turnovers and allowed repeated second-chance opportunities.
Head coach Mike Brown rejected schedule fatigue—Monday was New York’s third game in four nights—as an excuse. “They just physically kicked our ass,” Brown said. “Everything’s on the table right now for us defensively.” Still, he insisted “this is not time to panic,” even after team owner James Dolan told New York radio earlier in the day that he expects the club to reach the NBA Finals.
Cunningham drew “MVP” chants from the home crowd while leading a balanced Pistons attack. Detroit pushed the lead to 30 in the third quarter and never let New York back within 20.
“We have to come together,” reserve guard Miles McBride said. “The coaches can draw whatever they want, but we as a team have to figure it out and lean on our leaders.”
New York will try to halt its slide Wednesday when it hosts the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden.
Source: ESPN
