Whatever happens in the playoffs, this season has been a roaring success for the Detroit Pistons, as no one saw them coming after winning just 14 games last season.
A big part of their success has been the offseason additions of veterans Malik Beasley, Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr, who were brought in for their floor spacing, availability and veteran stability, which they have provided.
But other than Beasley, there isn’t an elite 3-point shooter in that group, so the narrative of better shooting and floor spacing around Cade Cunningham has been somewhat overblown.
The Pistons are still a bad 3-point shooting team, a weakness that could get exposed when the games slow down, and focus is heightened in the playoffs.
Detroit is just 17th in the NBA in 3-point percentage and 20th in makes per game, an improvement from last season, but still well below average.
The Pistons only have one player (Malik Beasley) who shoots over 40 percent from long range (Jaden Ivey was shooting 41 percent before his injury) and everyone else ranges from average to terrible.
The Pistons have two players in Isaiah Stewart and Ausar Thompson who barely shoot them at all, and another in Ron Holland II who does average nearly two attempts per game, but hit just 23.8 percent of them.
The Pistons have been able to overcome it with points in the paint and fast break points off their defense, but will the Knicks be able to take advantage in the playoffs?
Knicks gameplan against the Pistons
We know the Knicks are going to make stopping Cade Cunningham their main priority, but so far this season, they’ve not been able to, as Cade has averaged over 30 points, eight assists and five rebounds in four games against New York this season.
Their goal will be to make someone else beat them and to make the Pistons pay for having guys on the floor who can’t shoot.
Unfortunately, the three players I named above fall into that category while also being guys the Pistons rely heavily upon for their defense.
We are likely to see the Knicks sag off Ausar Thompson, Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland and dare them to shoot, a strategy we’ve seen employed in the playoffs in the past, most recently last season when teams targeted Josh Giddey on OKC.
The Pistons do have other players who can get hot and make the Knicks pay, so they will need contributions from guys like THJ, Harris and Simone Fontecchio to go along with Malik Beasley.
The Pistons will also need to attack the Knicks with their non-shooters, with guys like Thompson and Holland making them pay for letting them have a free run at the rim.
Detroit has been overcoming this issue all season, but we know the playoffs are a different beast and that Tom Thibodeau is going to target what he sees as their biggest weakness.
The Pistons will have to play fast and try to stay out of half-court offense scenarios against a defense that is fully set.
They don’t need Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland to start launching and making a bunch of 3’s (a few would help) but must find other ways to attack the Knicks when they back off the non-shooters.