The Detroit Pistons are headed into their first playoff series since 2019, and given that most of their players have never been there, it's hard to gauge what to expect.
Playoff pressure and atmosphere will surely be a factor, but the Pistons have already defied expectations and few are giving them a chance to win the series, which makes them a dangerous team with nothing to lose.
We'll know more tomorrow at 6:00 PM ET, but here are three things to expect from what should be a competitive first-round series.
Cade Cunningham will dominate
Here's Cade's numbers vs the Knicks this season: 30.8 PPG, 8.3 APG and 5 RPG while shooting a sizzling 65.7 true shooting percentage. Simply put, Thibs and the Knicks have had no answer for him, despite their plethora of wing defenders, who theoretically are decent physical matchups for Cade.
OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart all got torched at different points throughout the season series. Notably, Cade dropped 11 in the 4th quarter of a 124-119 road win in January, a triple double in a road win in December, and cemented Detroit's playoff spot with a 36 point effort against an admittedly undermanned Knicks team.
Cade's individual brilliance was a big reason Detroit won the season series 3-1. New York had no answer for Cade in the regular season, and it doesn't look like they'll find one in the playoffs.
We'll see lots of Brunson and KAT pick and rolls
In the two playoff runs Jalen Brunson has had with New York, we have seen him put up some insane scoring nights. He averaged 30(!) in his last two playoff runs. Against the Pistons this year, he averaged a cool 28 PPG. So barring his recent ankle injury slowing him down, you can expect more of the same from Brunson in the series.
Brunson is one of the best in the league at navigating the pick and roll, and with the shooting threat Karl-Anthony Towns presents, he's become even more dangeours. Already a master at creating space to get a shot off in the midrange, KAT's presence has defenses even more confused when guarding Brunson in the PnR.
Add in the fact that the Pistons' bigs are not at their best guarding in space and on the perimeter (more on that later), and you can expect a steady dose of Brunson-KAT high screens throughout this series.
Big man matchups will dictate the series
KAT presents a big matchup problem for Detroit. Jalen Duren and Isiah Stewart both struggle against floor-spacers, and KAT is as elite a floor-spacer as it gets.
Coach Bickerstaff has some choices to make, and none of them are particularly appealling. Detroit can play both bigs for stretches, to try and punish New York on the glass, but this sacrifices spacing.
Going with just Beef Stew means you lose that presence on the glass, while going with just Duren leaves you more vulnerable to 3s from KAT.
Going smaller with Tobias Harris on KAT could be an option, but that opens up a whole other can of worms, given the big size mismatch.
KAT is going to cause a ton of headaches for JB Bickerstaff. And how he tries to solve the KAT problem will be the basis of their defense, and will dictate how the series plays out.