It wasn’t completely surprising that the Detroit Pistons beat the New York Knicks in game 2 of their first-round series, as the Pistons had beaten them three times already this season, including twice in Madison Square Garden.
But it was the way they did it.
With their best interior defender sidelined, the Pistons used a combination of Tobias Harris and Paul Reed to slow down Karl-Anthony Towns, holding him to just 10 points and exploiting his propensity to disappear in the playoffs.
It was huge to get a win without Isaiah Stewart, who could make his return tonight in front of what should be a wild crowd in Little Caesar’s Arena.
Is Isaiah Stewart playing tonight?
Whether he is or not, the Pistons won’t be revealing this information until much closer to game time, as right now Stewart is listed as questionable, just like last game.
Stewart is the type of player who would play through pain, which tells me this injury was more than just inflammation, it is limiting him physically.
If Beef Stew can go, he will, and if he can’t, he won’t, it’s that simple, but either way it will have an effect on the Pistons’ rotation.
Pistons’ rotation if Isaiah Stewart plays
Even if Stewart plays, it’s difficult to believe he’ll be at 100 percent or able to give the Pistons 20+ hard-nosed minutes.
Stewart was laboring mightily in game one, unable to push off his knee, which limited his running and jumping.
Will the extra rest get him close to 100 percent? We’ll likely see some Paul Reed tonight even if Stewart does play, as Reed was effective in spurts and showed he can be a disruptive defender in the pick-and-roll.
Reed did a great job of jumping the ball handler on screens and moving his feet, though he did have a couple of troubling turnovers that showed the full range of BBall Paul Chaos.
Expect some Reed tonight even if Isaiah Stewart does make his return.
On a side note: If Beef Stew does enter this game, you can expect a roaring welcome from the home crowd, something that could give the team a lift.
If Isaiah Stewart doesn’t play
The Pistons are in trouble. They were able to get away with using Harris and Reed for most of the game on KAT, but we can be certain that Tom Thibodeau will have something to combat that in game three.
If Stewart can’t go, the Pistons may have to throw some different looks at KAT to keep him off balance and guessing as they did in game two.
Duren will have to play huge minutes again and we’ll get another dose of Paul Reed, who can be an X-Factor if he can create beneficial chaos for the Pistons without offsetting it with turnovers.