Game Preview: Knicks vs Pistons, October 27, 2026

To say it with the words of long-time Pistons PA announcer John Mason: “Deeeeeetroit basketball”!

As annoying as that catchphrase is for everyone outside of Michigan these days, it doesn’t come close to the irritation the Knicks’ 0-3 start has gifted the orange and blue fanbase. And make no mistake about it: Even if their foes from the Motor City come into town shorthanded, they will be quite a handful for the Bockers. And above all, annoying.

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Saying that about an opposing team might rub plenty of them the wrong way, but not the Detroit Pistons, who are probably smiling ear to ear when they hear that characterization. They absolutely revere the fact that it’s anything but a cakewalk playing against them and that their vaunted defense can make many a star think twice about that profession he once chose many moons ago. Sure, it’s not fun to be carved up by jumbo-sized combo guard Cade Cunningham in the high pick-and-roll, but it might be even less enjoyable to have the likes of Ron Holland II, “Bball Paul” Reed or Javonte Green slamming into you on the baseline with bad intentions. As our Knickerbockers surely know from quite a few battles in the last couple of years.

Knicks face shorthanded Pistons team

If you think that the good guys catch a bit of a break with the Pistons missing mammoth center Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson, and maybe even newly acquired sharpshooter Isaiah Joe, you might very well be right. But you might also end up like the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night. Yes, VJ Edgecombe and Joel Embiid weren’t in that episode of the soap opera “Bothering Love,” but LeBron and company surely thought that they could hang with a team giving minutes to someone named Tolu Smith. It turned out they couldn’t, as Detroit dominated the game from start to finish with physical, menacing defense, high intensity, and very good spacing on the offensive end.

As great as Ausar Thompson is as a defender, his outside shooting still makes Josh Hart on a bad week look like Louie Dampier out there. What the Pistons lose in defensive intensity gets picked up by the collective, yet on offense they actually gain a…

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Publish date : 2026-10-27 04:00:00

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