2025 NBA Playoffs Preview: Are the Knicks Poised to Expose the Pistons as Playoff Pretenders?

It’s been a while, but the Detroit Pistons are back in the playoffs. They’re the NBA’s feel-good team this year and now want to prove they’re more than just a nice story as they face the offensively potent New York Knicks in round one.

Knicks-Pistons is a matchup headlined by offensive-minded, gritty point guards in Cade Cunningham and Jalen Brunson. Plus, Karl-Anthony Towns is set for his first playoff series as a member of the Knicks. Between the new-age Bad Boy Pistons and the ever-raucous Knicks fans, this should be a highly intense series. But which side ends up as the victor? 

The Numbers

New York Knicks

Record: 52-30, No. 3 seed 

• Net Rating: eighth (plus-4.0)
• Offensive Rating: fifth (117.3)
• Defensive Rating: 13th (113.3)

Detroit Pistons

Record: 44-38, No. 6 seed

• Net Rating: 12th (plus-2.1)
• Offensive Rating: 14th (114.6)
• Defensive Rating: 10th (112.5)

How Will The Knicks Guard Cade Cunningham? 

In four games against the Knicks this season, Cunningham roasted New York’s lackluster point-of-attack defense to the tune of 30.8 points (65.7 percent true shooting), 8.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds. The Pistons won the season series, 3-1, and Cunningham was a problem the Knicks couldn’t solve.

Naturally, when a burgeoning star makes his first playoff appearance, there are questions about how he’ll look under the bright lights. So, how will Cunningham’s game translate? With postseason basketball often played at a slower place and featuring more physicality, some stars struggle. That could happen to Cunningham, but it’s unlikely, especially against this opponent. 

Cunningham’s style was made for the playoffs. He rarely gets rushed and embraces physicality, leveraging it to create separation in the midrange. That should bode extremely well against the Knicks’ defensive scheme, which includes lots of drop coverage and will give Cunningham ample room to operate. 

The Knicks have been pretty steadfast in this approach against Cunningham and rarely adjusted (occasionally, they’ve brought Towns closer to the level of the screen). But how long will that last in this series? And who will take on the primary assignment of guarding Cunningham? 

Most likely, they’ll rotate between Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby on Cunningham. While both are capable in their own ways, they haven’t been very successful at slowing him this season.  If Cunningham proves himself unstoppable, the Knicks will have to try and force the ball out of his hands by trapping or blitzing him in ball-screens. Such a strategy would put the onus on his Pistons teammates to make the most of their opportunities. 

That possibility is why this series will be determined not only by the success the Knicks have guarding Cunningham, but also by how they go about doing so. 

Can The Pistons’ Defense Level The Playing Field? 

The Knicks’ offense has been electric all season. It’s become their calling card, led by a pair of All-Stars in Brunson and Towns, who carve up opponents in the pick-and-roll while their ing cast of Anunoby, Bridges, Josh Hart and Miles McBride capitalize on the advantages those two create. 

The Pistons are a ferocious defense in their own right. They’re tough and scrappy, an modern embodiment of Bad Boys Pistons basketball. But they’re also versatile and that’s an encouraging sign entering the playoffs. 

Detroit is an elite paint defense and Isaiah Stewart sets that tone. As the primary defender on shots within six feet of the hoop, Stewart held players 10.7 points below their average. As a team, the Pistons hold opponents 2.1 percent below their average within six feet of the rim,  the fourth-best mark in the league this year. They pinch in on drives to take away easy angles at the basket. Off the ball, they field a combination of useful team defenders like Cunningham and Tobias Harris, and a defensive playmaker in Ausar Thompson, who finished among the top 10 in deflections per game. 

Will that formula be enough to curb the Knicks’ offense">It comes down to two primary factors: forcing turnovers and defending the 3-point line. 

The Pistons are top 10 in points off turnovers and fast-break points. To some degree, turnovers fuel their offense because it lets their athletes shine in the open floor. But the Knicks take care of the ball, mainly because they play in isolation so much. They were sixth in turnover rate offensively (per Cleaning the Glass).

The Pistons defend aggressively and tend to help from the corners. They allowed the 11th-highest rate of corner threes this season. The Knicks, meanwhile, had the 11th-highest corner 3-point rate. How often Detroit can force the Knicks into turnovers and limit them beyond the arc will be key to slowing an elite offense.

The Knicks’ X Factor: Josh Hart

Hart is the heartbeat of this Knicks team. The way he pushes in transition, crashes the glass and creates plays out of thin air can turn the tide of games and make him an X factor in any playoff series. But opposing teams aren’t naive and recognize how to exploit his flaws.

He’s a reluctant three-point shooter who hit 33.3 percent of his triples on 3.3 attempts per game this season. Opposing defenses will often stash their bigs on Hart, so that they can sag off of him and provide more help in the paint. The Pistons will likely do the same by putting Duren or Harris on Hart. It’ll mean Hart has to be a more willing and effective shooter, and impact the game as a screener and offensive rebounder. 

The Pistons’ X Factor: Jalen Duren 

Duren is a crucial part of what the Pistons aim to achieve defensively in this series. During the bulk of their matchups against the Knicks, he took on the primary assignment of guarding Towns. How consistently he can limit Towns as a driver and stick with him on the perimeter will be pivotal, particularly because the Pistons need what Duren provides offensively as a rebounder and ball-screen partner with Cunningham. 

Prediction: Knicks In Six

While I think the Knicks will have their hands full trying to contain Cunningham, their offense should prove too powerful for the Pistons’ defense. New York does a great job taking care of the ball. Amid the slower, more methodical pace of the postseason, it’ll be harder for the Pistons to force turnovers and get their offense going in the open court. It’s going to be a fun series, but the Knicks will handle business.