Pistons at Knicks
Two teams fighting to avoid finishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings meet up Sunday night when the reeling Detroit Pistons visit Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks. The Pistons have lost three straight and 10 of 11 after falling 111-105 at home against Utah on Saturday while the Knicks have dropped eight of 10 contests following a 126-103 setback to Oklahoma City on Friday.
Detroit looked as though it may contend for one of the final playoff spots in the East in late January, but the Pistons dropped seven in a row in February and have suffered three straight defeats by single digits in the past seven days. Christian Wood continues to emerge for Detroit, as the power forward drained 13-of-24 from the field for a career-high 30 points to go along with 11 rebounds Saturday, but the Pistons could not climb out of a hole after managing to score just 17 in the first quarter and 39 through one half. The Knicks, who will have another high pick in the draft while ending their seventh straight season without a playoff game, showed some life with a win over powerful Houston on Monday before losing to Utah by eight Wednesday and connecting on just 4-of-24 from 3-point range Friday in the loss against the Thunder. “We can’t let our offensive struggles dictate our effort on the defensive end,” New York forward Bobby Portis told reporters. “We didn’t make shots (Friday), but we discounted our effort.”
TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: FS Detroit Plus, MSG
ABOUT THE PISTONS (20-44): Wood, in his fourth NBA season from UNLV, set his career high with 29 points against Oklahoma City on Wednesday before topping it three days later and is averaging 24 over the last six contests. Guard Jordan McRae has made an impression in two games since joining Detroit, scoring 15 in his first outing and adding 14 against Utah while connecting on 9-of-20 from the floor overall with four assists combined. Veteran point guard Brandon Knight has also picked up his production of late, averaging 15.8 points over his past six contests.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (19-44): Forward Julius Randle leads the team in scoring (19.3), along with rebounds (9.7), and has been especially hot lately while averaging 28 points and 11 boards in his past five outings. Rookie guard RJ Barrett is averaging 18.4 points over his last five games to boost his season mark to 14.1 and Portis contributed 15 per contest in the past four - almost five above his average overall. Point guard Elfrid Payton, playing for his fourth team, has been a spark for the offense in the last two games - averaging 19 points on 15-of-25 shooting, 8.5 assists and eight rebounds.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. New York C Mitchell Robinson is averaging 15.3 points and nine rebounds the last three games, making 21-of-29 from the field.
2. The Pistons had made 18 shots from 3-point range in two straight games before going 9-of-30 behind the arc Saturday.
3. The Knicks won 95-92 at Detroit on Feb. 8 to snap an eight-game losing streak in the series.