Broadway. CBGBs (RIP). The Apollo. Yankee Stadium (RIP).
Ain’t a patch of terra firma anywhere else on the whole damn terra can rival the platforms NYC does. Madison Square Garden’s on that list, where last night Cade Cunningham was Sinatra, the Beatles, James Brown and Michael Jordan in a 126-111 Detroit Pistons win.
The Knicks went into the All-Star break winners of 10 of 12, but this was the first leg of their most brutal stretch of the season, the first leg of a two-week gauntlet featuring home dates with Houston, San Antonio and Oklahoma City, while visiting Cleveland, Toronto, Denver and the Lakers; three of those road games games are one end of a back-to-back.
Every win is a good win, but with only three games separating the East’s second- and fifth-seeds, every win is one the Knicks need, not only for their confidence (now 16-15 against winning teams) but for their playoff positioning. One slip in form — one injury — and instead of hosting the Magic in the opening round and the Celtics in the semis, they might need to win as the lower seed against Cavs only to open the next round in Michigan.
Dunno know if you heard, but this season the Pistons have whupped the Knicks not once, not twice, but thrice. You can tell they and their fans are awfully excited, and who can blame them? Knick fans know better than most what it’s like to suffer a long dry spell, then awaken back to life. Yet Detroit was without their top two bigs, Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart, both suspended after the latter sprang to the defense of the former after he’d been sucker-punched by someone who’s twice beat up his children’s mother (twice that we know of). It seemed the Knicks caught a break. All they caught was a whupping.
Last year the Pistons beat them five times in the regular season and playoffs by a total of 32 points. Detroit took the first two meetings this season by 31, then 38; while this game was closer (the Knicks were still in it midway through the third), Mars is closer than Jupiter, yet very far indeed. Last night was easily the most competitive game between the teams this season and Detroit still led the final 40 minutes. Counting last year and this year’s regular-season and playoffs, they’re 8-5 against New York.
I haven’t believed these Pistons can beat the Knicks in this year’s playoffs, mostly because of things that have little to nothing to do with these Pistons. They haven’t won a postseason series since George W. Bush was the inept war criminal Nepo Baby-in-Chief, as opposed to the metastasized malignancy in place today. NBA teams don’t go from “haven’t won a series in 17 years” to the Finals. It just doesn’t happen. Then again, jump-shooting teams never won till Golden State did in 2015. Of course, they were never “just” a jump-shooting team.
Maybe what these Pistons are matters more than whatever they’re not. What they are is physical, big and long, and dead certain they’re better than the Knicks. What they’re not is a great shooting team, nor is Cade considered a great shooter, and yet this year against the Knicks the Pistons are shooting 56/46/80 AS A TEAM, outscoring their more accomplished elders by 40 points on 2s and 51 on 3s.
This is a rivalry now, or what passes for one after decades of owners with dildos for brains devolving until it’s nearly impossible to keep a team together more than 2-3 years or find where to watch half their games. The Knicks and Pistons can both taste it. “The old East is dying,” Gramsci might’ve said, “and the new East struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.” Such a time to be a monster!
The Pacers are on sabbatical for a year. The Celtics are under new management. The Cavs, the league’s most disappointing playoff team the past few years, are risking it all on James Harden, the league’s most disappointing playoff performer for over a decade. The Banchero/Bane Magic have yet to make any. Despite getting the best run of play Joel Embiid’s shown in nearly two years, the 76ers have made it clear they’re no longer about the present and are looking to the future. The Heat haven’t been the Heat for a while.
The East’s two best teams met last night, as did its two best players. Jalen Brunson scored an efficient 33 to go with eight assists (33rd and 8th!). But he also had half his team’s dozen turnovers. Cunningham’s no debutante, but his performance felt like a coming-out party, a degree of leveling up you maybe weren’t expecting. Mozart’s last two symphonies. Beethoven’s last. Radiohead going from The Bends to OK Computer. Cade going from “that man is niiiice” to “that man is nassssty.”
There’s all kinds of fans and all kinds of fandoms. Me, personally, I was first drawn to the Knicks and the NBA because of my love of the game. So while I def wouldn’t react the same way in May, best believe I enjoyed Cade’s effort immensely. The East has stunk for a while. Cunningham joining the Tatum/Haliburton/Giannis-when-he’s-healthy stratosphere is a treat for those who love stargazing.
Also, Cade is dangerous. Legitimately. Trae Young had a good two weeks against the Knicks in 2021, but they’ve pretty much always had his number in the regular season; there wasn’t ever a second act to develop real drama. To varying extents, Tatum and Haliburton’s teams have punted on this season, if only to better position themselves to relaunch. Jeremy Sochan had some very nice defensive moments, but Cunningham roasted every Knick that tested the flames. Too big, too quick and too good.
When’s the last time (some of you may be too young to have an answer for this) the Knicks mattered and were up against legit dangers like Cunningham and Haliburton, players you know ached to beat them? I’d think after last year Tatum and Jaylen Brown would love nothing more than a second-round rematch. The Knicks are (despite last night’s L) a great team! And a lot of great teams in the East have a target on the Knicks’ backs. If this doesn’t quicken you as a fan, we’re not the same species.
Quoth Jaybugkit: “Kinda contentious.” These Pistons are. They oughta be; nobody values wealth like someone who grew up poor. Two years ago Detroit had the league’s worst record; now they have the best. Two to three months from now, they could meet the Knicks with a lot more than bragging rights at stake.
I hope by then both teams are healthy (OG Anunoby returned to the lineup after two weeks out and looked like someone returning after two weeks out). I hope Cade and Brunson bring their A-games. I hope the Knicks remember Karl-Anthony Towns being a great shooter and scorer for a 7-footer also means he’s a 7-footer, so get his butt down on the block for once instead of everything being a 3 or a drive 25 feet from the hoop. These Knicks/Pistons games have all almost been over before they began. Hopefully the rivalry is just getting started.