Pistons vs. Knicks final score: 37 assists on 44 baskets as Detroit trounces NY

The Detroit Pistons cruised to a 122-102 victory over the hapless New York Knicks and flexed their offensive muscle to the tune of a season-high 37 assists on 44 made baskets.

As a reminder, the Pistons are down all three of the point guards on their roster.

But who needs a point guard when you have point Drummond? Andre Drummond not only collected 12 rebounds and scored 27 points on 12-of-16 shooting but also notched seven assists.

Luke Kennard flirted with a triple double of his own with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Bruce Brown, the defacto starting point guard, and Langston Galloway added six assists apiece.

The 37 assists is one off the NBA’s season high of the Miami Heat’s 38.

It’s easy to rack up the assists when Tony Snell and Markieff Morris are shooting as effortlessly as they did against the tissue-thin defense of the Knicks. Not only did Snell not miss on his 24-point night (9-for-9 including six 3s), but I’m not sure he ever hit the rim.

Morris, meanwhile, was obviously amped to face off against his twin brother and former Piston Marcus Morris Sr. Detroit’s Morris has struggled mightily this year but he had a season-high 22 points on 7-of-11 from the floor including four 3-pointers.

The Knicks were led by Julius Randle (20 points) and Morris Sr. (18 points).

Overall, this was a fun bad game for Detroit, and it’s good that they were able to win a game they should be winning against New York (1-7). On a night where Detroit’s still problematic defense allowed New York to hit 44% of its 3s and let players like Frank Ntilikina and Kevin Knox to combine for 10-of-14 from the floor the game was never really close.

New York simply couldn’t match up with Drummond’s size in the middle after Mitchell Robinson left in the first half with concussion-like symptoms. Dre was running the floor, hitting baby hooks and dishing all over the court.

The Pistons sit at 4-5 on the year and will have a chance to crawl their way to .500 when they play the Indiana Pacers on Friday in Indianapolis.

And as frustrating as this team looks now, things seem like they might make a lot more sense once Blake Griffin gets back and can play that point forward role the Pistons desperately need.