NEW YORK (AP) — Cade Cunningham had 33 points and 12 rebounds, Dennis Schroder made the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 55 seconds left, and the Detroit Pistons snapped their NBA-record, 15-game postseason losing streak by beating the New York Knicks 100-94 on Monday night in Game 2 of their playoff series.
The Pistons, who hadn’t even been to the postseason since 2019, recovered after the Knicks erased a 15-point deficit to earn their first playoff victory since Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference finals against Boston. The Celtics won the final two games of that series and the Pistons were then swept in 2009, 2006 and 2019 before dropping Game 1 at Madison Square Garden.
Now they are back in the win column, all tied in the series and will host Game 3 on Thursday night.
Schroder, who wasn’t even on the Pistons until a trade in February, nailed the 3-pointer after the Knicks had used a 16-4 run to tie it at 94 on Josh Hart’s dunk. He finished with 20 points off the bench.
The Pistons were in good shape to win Game 1 with an eight-point lead after three quarters, before the Knicks used a 21-0 run in the fourth to win 123-112. Detroit built another eight-point advantage after three Monday, and this time made the big plays after another Knicks rally.
Jalen Brunson scored 37 points for the No. 3-seeded Knicks, but Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby were each limited to 10 after both finished with 23 points in the opener.
CLIPPERS 105, NUGGETS 102
DENVER (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting and Los Angeles evened their first-round playoff series against Denver.
Christian Braun was long on a 3-pointer with 6 seconds left, and Nikola Jokic, who recorded 19th career playoff triple-double, grabbed the rebound but also missed a 3,1 second remaining.
The Clippers, who lost Game 1 in overtime, haven’t lost back-to-back games since March 2-4, a stretch of 23 games, and they handed David Adelman his first loss in five games since replacing Michael Malone in a stunning move on the eve of the playoffs.
Jokic, just the third player to average a triple-double over a season, had 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists and Jamal Murray added 23 points for the Nuggets, who also got a bounce-back game from Michael Porter Jr. (15 points and 15 rebounds) after his 3-point performance in Game 1.
It wasn’t enough against Leonard, who had 21 points at the break, including a pull-up 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer that broke a 52-all tie.
Leonard also had a key steal of a Jokic pass with 37 seconds remaining in the game, but Harden missed at the other end and Braun grabbed the defensive rebound with 11 seconds left.
The series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 Thursday night.
The Associated Press
