Detroit Pistons at New York Knicks

·Tue Oct 27·8:00 PM ET·NBC·New York, NY

By JR·2 min read

Pistons(3-0)

Knicks(0-3)

Tuesday 10/278:00 PM

TLDR: Detroit walks into Madison Square Garden at 3-0. The defending champion Knicks are 0-3 and became the first title holder to start that way since the 2011-12 Mavericks. Tuesday is about whether New York's opening week was an anomaly or a warning.

WED 10/28, WED OCT 28, 8:00 PM NBC

Pistons

(3-0)

WWW

Knicks

(0-3)

LLL

The 3-0 Pistons visit the 0-3 defending champion Knicks, who have lost late in games despite steady scoring from Brunson, Towns and Anunoby. Detroit is without Jalen Duren (hamstring) and Ausar Thompson (ankle), which puts the interior and the glass in Towns' hands. Whether New York's poor 3-point shooting and 4th quarters continue decides the game.

Detroit Pistons

Cunningham driving an offense that's beaten 3 straight
Robinson and Jenkins giving real secondary scoring
Fast starts: 34-22 1st quarter in Philly
Duren out at least 2 weeks with a hamstring strain
Thompson out (ankle), Joe hurt his hip Sunday
Thin frontcourt against Towns on the glass

New York Knicks

Towns posted 22 and 14 against Orlando
Brunson, Towns, Anunoby all scored 22+ Sunday
Healthy roster facing a short-handed opponent
Got outscored 40-27 in the 4th by Orlando
8-for-34 from 3 in the Magic loss
Lost at home to a Magic team without Banchero

Nobody saw this coming in the first week. The Pistons have beaten Boston, Miami and Philadelphia, and nothing about it has been close. They went up 34-22 in the 1st quarter in Philly and never let the Sixers back in. Cade Cunningham has carried the offense like a star, including 26 in that one. Duncan Robinson and Daniss Jenkins have given him real help, with 21 and 18 against the Sixers. The Knicks are still looking for their first win with a fully healthy roster, and that's a lot harder to explain than a bad week.

There's one big asterisk on Detroit's start, and it's the middle of the floor. Jalen Duren strained his right hamstring in the first half of the Miami win, played only 10 minutes, and won't be re-evaluated for 2 weeks. That injury came less than a month after his 5-year, $200 million extension. Ausar Thompson was out in Philly with an ankle problem, and Isaiah Joe left that game with a hip issue. Detroit's frontcourt and wing depth are both thinner than the record suggests.

That matters a lot against this Knicks frontcourt. Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points and 14 rebounds in the Orlando loss. Jalen Brunson scored 28 and OG Anunoby added 22. The Knicks' top 3 are scoring. They've been losing late. Orlando outscored them 40-27 in the 4th, and Franz Wagner scored 21 of his 23 points in that quarter alone. New York also went 8-for-34 from 3, and a healthy roster usually doesn't shoot like that for long.

The matchup to watch is Towns against a Detroit team without Duren. Duren's rebounding, interior finishing and pick-and-roll chemistry with Cunningham are a big part of what Detroit's offense does. Without him, the Pistons need to win the glass by committee against one of the league's best rebounding bigs. If Towns controls the paint the way he did against Orlando, the Knicks finally get to play from ahead.

Both teams last played Sunday, so neither has a rest edge going into the 8:00 PM ET tip. The pressure is all on New York. A defending champion that's 0-4 at home to a team it's supposed to be measuring itself against becomes the league's loudest story. Detroit has a chance to show its start is real on the biggest regular-season stage, and the Knicks have a chance to make the first week look like a fluke.

Detroit Pistons at New York Knicks

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