The Detroit Pistons apparently took last season's playoff loss to the New York Knicks personally.
For the third time this season, the Pistons blew out the Knicks. On Thursday night, Detroit rolled to a 126-111 win at Madison Square Garden, sweeping their series for the 2025-26 regular season. The Pistons won by an average of 28 points in their three meetings.
Cade Cunningham scored a game-high 42 points with 13 assists and 8 rebounds, leading the Pistons to boost their Eastern Conference-leading record to 41-13. Paul Reed, starting in place of suspended All-Star Jalen Duren, added 18 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. Tobias Harris scored 11 points with 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
CADE IS HOOPIN' AT MSG 🔥
— NBA (@NBA) February 20, 2026
Slithers and slams for two... 35 PTS for the game as we head into Q4! pic.twitter.com/Np4IJAdVVz
Outside shooting was a major issue for the Knicks on Thursday, hitting just 23% of their 3-point attempts (8-of-35). But they actually improved their second-half 3-point shooting after going 1-for-16 (6%) in the first half. Jalen Brunson opened the game by hitting a 3. However, the Knicks missed their next 15 3-point attempts and Detroit took a 58-48 lead into halftime.
New York came into Thursday's game with the third-best 3-point shooting percentage in the NBA at 37.8% Only the Denver Nuggets (39.5%) and Milwaukee Bucks (39.2%) were better.
The Knicks closed the Pistons' lead to 62-60 with nine minutes remaining in the third quarter, behind 10 points from Karl-Anthony Towns. But Detroit's Duncan Robinson answered with a 3-pointer and New York couldn't get any closer than a four-point margin for the rest of the frame.
Brunson led the Knicks with 33 points, in addition to 6 rebounds and 8 assists. Towns tallied 21 points and 11 boards, while Landry Shamet added 15 points off the bench. The defeat dropped New York to 35-21, tying them with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third spot in the East.