The Will Bynum show heads to New York, where the Pistons will play one of the few teams that cannot catch them for the 8 seed in the East.
7:30 pm ET
New York: 30-48 (19-20 home)
Margin: -2.7 ppg (-4.5 last 25%)
Last 10: 2-8
Pistons: 37-40 (17-21 road)
Margin: -0.8 (-0.1 last 25%)
Last 10: 4-6
Oppo research
It's kinda sad when a thirty win team can be said to be overachieving, but there is no reason why this roster shouldn't be in the driver's seat in the Blake Griffin sweepstakes. Well, there is one reason, but David Lee can't do it by himself.
Mike D'Antoni's famed seven seconds or less offense has been catching teams off guard all season, and it has even made Chris Duhon appear to be a competent point guard (which, by the way, he is not).
With D'Antoni at the helm, a league in the throes of recession, and cap space for 2010, the future looks bright at the Garden. The present? Not so much. The Knicks are able to snatch the occassional victory by virtue of simply outshooting their opponents, but this isn't a great team right now. That said, the Pistons have proven that they can lose to any team, so expect a close one tonight.
The Drama:
There are plenty of folks on this board who see David Lee in a Pistons uniform, but will his inflated stats drive the asking price? Antonio McDyess would have 16 and 12 for this Knicks team.
Keys for Detroit
Show up: You'd think this would be a given. A slow start against a fast team can, well, ask Michigan State how that goes.
Force the midrange game: The Knicks thrive in transition, either getting to the rim or converting a decent (if unspectacular) percentage of open threes. That said, their personnel can't resist taking long twos. Dare them to do so.
Ask Will Bynum to score 26 points in the fourth quarter: That seemed to work.
Question of the Game
Will the Pistons phone it in? With the playoffs all but assured, it's difficult to know which team will show up tonight.