Detroit Pistons end their NBA-record, 15-game postseason losing streak with a road victory against the New York Knicks in their Eastern Conference playoff series.
The Detroit Pistons snapped their NBA-record 15-game playoff losing streak with a 100-94 victory over the New York Knicks to level their Eastern Conference first-round series at one game apiece.
Detroit’s Cade Cunningham scored 33 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Dennis Schroder added 20 points off the bench, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 55.7 seconds left, as the Pistons thwarted the Knicks’ fourth quarter rally on Monday.
The Pistons, in the playoffs for the first time since 2019, notched their first playoff victory since Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics.
Two days after the Knicks authored a 21-0 scoring run to rally in Game 1, the Pistons were pushed to the finish in a fast-paced, physical encounter at Madison Square Garden.
They led by as many as 15 in the third quarter, but the Knicks had cut the deficit to eight going into the final period.
New York star Jalen Brunson scored 14 of his 37 points in the fourth and fed Josh Hart for a dunk that tied it at 94-94 with 1:15 to play.
But Schroder answered immediately, drilling a three-pointer that put the Pistons ahead for good.
The Knicks came up empty on three straight possessions, while Schroder and Jalen Duren connected at the free throw line to seal Detroit’s win.
Detroit’s Tobias Harris scored 15 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, and Duren had 12 points and 13 boards.
Mikal Bridges scored 19 for the Knicks as Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby were held to 10 apiece.
“We did what we were supposed to do. And that was it,” said Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff, whose team hosts Game 3 on Thursday. “To win a game on the road to get home court was what we came here for.
“So we approached it with a businesslike mentality, learned from the fourth quarter the other night. But we just did what we were supposed to do.”
Leonard dominates Nuggets
Kawhi Leonard scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the visiting Los Angeles Clippers beat the Denver Nuggets 105-102 on Monday to level their Western Conference first-round playoff series at one win apiece.
Denver’s Christian Braun and Nikola Jokic missed three-point attempts to end the game. Jokic wound up with a triple-double.
James Harden added 18 points, Ivica Zubac contributed 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Norman Powell scored 13 points for Los Angeles.
Leonard, 33, bounced back from a seven-turnover performance in the opener on Saturday, a 112-110 Denver win in overtime. He hit his first six shots on Monday, missed a pull-up jumper early in the second quarter and did not miss again until early in the fourth.
“Tough fight,” Leonard said postgame on TNT. “This is what the playoffs are about.”
The best-of-seven series shifts to California for Game 3 on Thursday in Inglewood.
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