DETROIT — If Cade Cunningham can’t reduce his water again on, the Pistons will probably be going house in 5.
The Knicks, led by OG Anunoby, held Cunningham — Detroit’s All-Star guard and franchise cornerstone — to a 10-of-25 taking pictures night time for simply 24 factors in New York’s Sport 3 victory at Little Caesars Enviornment on Thursday.
Cunningham additionally shot simply 8-of-21 for 21 factors in Sport 2 and is taking pictures simply 43% from the sphere and 30% from downtown by three video games on this first-round Jap Convention playoff sequence.
It’s a drastic turnaround from the 30 factors he averaged on higher than 50% taking pictures from each the sphere and three-point vary by 4 common season video games. The Pistons went 3-1 towards the Knicks through the common season however now path 2-1 of their playoff sequence.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau made a strategic adjustment, deviating from the Mikal Bridges task through the common season to place Anunoby, a shut-down defender, on the Pistons star.
The no-brainer transfer has labored in New York’s favor.
“He’s a great player. Puts a lot of pressure on you. The thing I like about both OG and Mikal is they stick with it. You have to. You have to have a determination,” Thibodeau mentioned after Sport 3. “Typically, you possibly can defend him completely and he could make. I believe the group must be in tune with what you’re attempting to do, as effectively. However you even have to pay attention to his potential to move and then you definitely gotta cowl the 3-point line.“
Anunoby mentioned after Sport 2 he anticipated the Pistons to run extra motion to free Cunningham by screens. Detroit’s star guard logged 33 factors and 12 assists within the Pistons’ 100-94 victory over the Knicks in Sport 2. Cunningham shot 11-of-21 from the sphere in that recreation.
“It’s a series,” Anunoby mentioned after Sport 3. “They’ll make adjustments. We’ll make adjustments, too.”
KAT GETS THE BALL
The largest adjustment the Knicks made on Thursday? Getting Karl-Anthony Cities the ball.
Cities completed with a game-high 31 factors on 10-of-18 taking pictures from the sphere in Sport 3. He took extra photographs within the opening minutes of the primary quarter on Thursday (4) than he did in the whole second half of Sport 2 (three).
“I just got opportunities to do things on the offensive end. We found a way in transition to get me some good looks, and I was able to capitalize of off that to start the night off,” Cities mentioned after the sport. “Shout out to Cap [Jalen Brunson], and Josh [Hart], they found me in the flow of the offense and I was able to capitalize on those opportunities.”
Thibodeau mentioned Cities was in a position to reap the benefits of the Pistons making an attempt to place smaller defenders on the All-Star middle.
“He’s seen that all year. Usually, he’s going to get a mix of guys. He’s going to get different looks. I think he’s comfortable playing inside and outside,” mentioned Thibodeau. “The smaller man goes on him, he goes into the submit, the larger man goes on and you are taking him away from the basket, you possibly can catch and shoot with him. You’ll be able to play decide and roll with him. There’s quite a lot of various things that you are able to do with them.
“Then just recognize that and then play off each other when the second defender comes, don’t fight the double team. Just trust the pass, and we got an advantage on the backside. I thought guys made a lot of good plays for each other, whether it was getting the ball forward, getting into the paint, spacing it out, or making the extra pass, and that gave everyone good rhythm.”
MORE ADJUSTMENTS
Jalen Brunson mentioned he needed to do a greater job getting off the ball in Sport 3. He did, and it resulted in a much-needed victory on the highway on Thursday.
“That’s something that we talked about. That second half when we they made a little bit of a run that’s because we were playing slow,” mentioned Hart. “We had to mix it up, we continued to play faster. That’s what we wanted to do, we want to get people involved. Get JB off the ball sometimes. Let everybody work.”
Initially Printed: April 25, 2025 at 8:14 PM EDT
