The Detroit Pistons could possibly be with out one in every of their greatest bigs.
Rim-protecting heart Isaiah Stewart is listed as questionable with proper knee irritation going into Monday evening’s Recreation 2 towards the Knicks at Madison Sq. Backyard.
Stewart didn’t play the ultimate 9:06 of the Pistons’ 123-112 loss in Recreation 1 on Saturday — a choice head coach J.B. Bickerstaff stated he made to guard the massive man.
The Knicks scored the final 19 factors of their game-turning 21-0 run with Stewart on the bench.
“He was phenomenal last night,” Bickerstaff stated Sunday after a movie session. “His effort, how he protected the rim, the vitality that he introduced, how his teammates fed off his vitality was big.
“When he’s not on the floor for us, we all have to bring that. We have to find a way, because we can’t just lean on him all the time or expect it just to be him. We have to play with that same ferociousness and that effort that he does.”
Stewart — who grew up in Rochester, N.Y. — underwent imaging on his leg after Saturday’s sport, based on SNY. He had appeared hobbled all through his 19 minutes off the bench.
The 6-8 heart missed the final two video games of the common season with proper knee irritation. Requested Sunday if Stewart was coping with the identical challenge, Bickerstaff replied, “There’s a lot going on there.”
The Pistons led, 98-90, when the Knicks’ Cameron Payne completed a lay-up and drew a foul on Stewart.
Stewart, 23, checked out of the sport earlier than Payne shot his free throw and didn’t return.
“It definitely hurt,” guard Malik Beasley stated of Stewart’s absence. “Stew is a guy — I don’t care what anybody says — he’s here for us. He only cares about us, so to not have him out there in the fourth quarter hurt a little bit, but as a team … we have to have a next-man-up mentality.”
Stewart is without doubt one of the NBA’s prime inside defenders, and his bruising presence is a significant a part of the Pistons’ bodily identification.
With a +8 level differential, Stewart was the one Pistons participant to complete with a optimistic plus/minus.
Beginning heart Jalen Duren, in the meantime, struggled in his postseason debut. Duren’s -20 level differential was the worst amongst all gamers, whereas his 137.5 defensive score was considerably worse than Stewart’s 107.0.
“[The postseason] is different, but just like a regular season game, you have to be the best version of yourself,” Bickerstaff stated of Duren’s efficiency. “I know [that] and I expect more, and I know that he’ll give us more because he has all year.”
OG ADJUSTMENT
OG Anunoby was a game-wrecker in Recreation 1.
Anunoby’s hounding protection towards Cade Cunningham was the driving pressure within the high-scoring Pistons star managing solely 21 factors on 8-of-21 taking pictures.
“We’ve got to be more physical with him on the offensive end of the floor,” Bickerstaff stated of Anunoby after Sunday’s movie session.
“You go back and watch the film, and a lot of our screens were whiffed. If you’re gonna set a screen on a guy like that, you’ve got to put a body on him. The times that we did, we were able to create leverage and find two-on-ones or whatever it may be.”
Anunoby’s 5 steals led all gamers.
“This series, we talk about physicality, but physicality just isn’t defense,” Bickerstaff stated. “There’s physicality on the offensive end of the floor, and we’ve got to up that.”
