Detroit Pistons Suffer Cold Shooting Night In 111-97 Loss To Knicks

It seems disrespectful to assert that the Detroit Pistons were walking into a trap game against the New York Knicks before tonight’s game tipped off, but in many ways that assessment would not be too far off the mark. 

The Pistons were 3-0 and stood as the lone undefeated unit left in the Eastern Conference after a trio of big wins to open the 2026-27 campaign. The Knicks, on the other hand, had yet to taste victory during the regular season, which pointed to a championship hangover for the title-winning New York squad. 

Dialing the clock back to last year, the Pistons handled the Knicks with relative ease during their three-game regular season series. Playing both with and without Jalen Duren in the lineup, Detroit nearly achieved a 30-point margin of victory against the Knicks for a clean sweep, but their meeting tonight produced a much different outcome with New York securing a 111-97 win. 

For the Pistons, Ausar Thompson returned to the starting lineup after missing Sunday’s game with a sprained ankle, but the All-Defensive First Team wing seemed to be on a minutes restriction as he worked his way back to full health. Thompson finished the game with 11 points, six rebounds, two steals and one block in 25 minutes, but he looked like a non-option during several Detroit possessions. Late in the fourth quarter, Thompson fouled out to end his night early, but the Knicks had the game relatively in hand by that juncture. 

As expected, Cade Cunningham was the driving force for the Pistons and helped the team accumulate a 13-point edge heading into the second quarter, but that is right when Detroit’s shooting struggles intensified. During the second frame, the Pistons managed merely 12 points before posting a paltry 13-point effort in the third quarter, which effectively sealed their first loss of the regular season. 

After beginning the year with three consecutive five-triple performances, Duncan Robinson’s long-range rhythm disappeared entirely against the Knicks. Robinson went just 2-for-10 from beyond the arc for a shooting performance that represented some regression back to the mean. 

Switching back to Cunningham, the Pistons All-Star had a near-triple-double performance with 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the contest. In fact, Cunningham finished just three points shy of Detroit’s team-lead, a title that was bestowed upon Paul Reed in lieu of his 9-for-12 shooting effort. Reed scored 22 points for the Pistons with nine rebounds to his credit, but B-Ball Paul found himself in foul trouble for virtually the entire second half. 

Overall, the Pistons struggled to shoot from long-range, lost the rebounding battle to the Knicks and were out-scored in transition. That is not a winning blueprint for Detroit, so the Pistons promptly fell to 3-1 in the aftermath of Tuesday night’s double-digit loss.