Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham expects a heated battle in the first playoff series of his career, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post relays via an ESPN interview. Detroit will match up against the Knicks in the opening round.
“It’s going to be a war,” he said. “It’s going to be highly physical games — defense, battling it out on the glass, all of those different things. I think it’s going to be a super exciting series for people at home to watch, and it’s going to be a great test for us as far as first round, first series in a long time for the organization. So it’s exciting, and I think it’s going to be a great one for us.”
The Knicks’ game plan will undoubtedly center around making Cunningham uncomfortable.
“He’s had a terrific season. It’s not just [against] us, he’s done it against everybody. We understand that. … With great players you don’t guard them individually, you guard them collectively,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “So we have to understand what goes into that.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- The Pacers reached the 50-win mark with the biggest comeback in franchise history, The Associated Press reports. They erased a 27-point deficit for a 126-118 victory over Cleveland in double overtime on Sunday. Both teams sat out most of their rotation players. Over the game’s final 18:05, Indiana’s Quenton Jackson, Enrique Freeman, RayJ Dennis, Tony Bradley and Johnny Furphy outscored Cleveland 53-24.
- The Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe reveals her seven takeaways from the Bulls’ regular season, including the emergence of Josh Giddey, the building of a young core, and the realization that Lonzo Ball cannot be a building block. Chicago hosts Miami in the play-in tournament on Wednesday.
- Pat Connaughton had a career day in the Bucks’ regular-season finale, pouring in 43 points in an overtime victory against Detroit. “I just wanted to win the game,” Connaughton said, per Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal. “Unfortunately we didn’t do it in regulation, which I’m sure brought some entertainment value for ESPN and everything. Which was fun.” Connaughton holds a $9.42MM player option on his contract for next season.
Did anyone really think Lonzo Ball was a building block? Thats crazy
There are a lot of crazy people…
Haven’t you paid attention to the news?
Holy crap! Indy came back to W!!!
Thats 3–1 vs cavs this yr
Upset coming In 2nd rd!!!
link to x.com
Pistons vs Knicks ……. let’s do this !!!!!
Congrats on 50 Indy
Now pay the GD tax next year and settle up Myles
I think the NYK-DET series will flush things out for the NYK. DET has built its identity on being physical and hitting 3 pt shots. The NYK, all season, have been too soft and too accomodative to 3 pt shooters. So, the NYK will either do a U-turn on those fronts, or they’ll suffer an embarassing series loss to a first time playoff team. No way to spin that internally or with the fanbase.
The NYK defensive problems (like their often impressive offense) are mostly a function of personnel. But still, its disappointing that they haven’t really improved much throughout the year. I’m a Thibs’ fan, in part because when his teams have struggled defensively early on, he’s always been able to “fix it” (his words). This year, no fix, so far. I assume he’s still trying. Anyway, he has 1 final week, and all the practices he needs, to take one last stab at it. With Mitch and PA both healthy, there are more possibilities than there has been.
Pistons should realistically dominate them just like the regular season. They have twice the depth, which is huge in the playoffs.
LOL. DET’s a mediocre team. If NYK show up, they’ll win the series comfortably.
BTW, if you’re going to troll, at least learn the game a little. Absent an injury, depth means very little in the playoffs.