The honeymoon phase has come to an end quickly for the New York Knicks, who just won their first NBA championship since 1972/73. Defending is hard, and so far, the Knicks are 0-3, one of just five remaining winless teams in basketball.
New York will look to pick up its first win of the season tonight when it hosts the Detroit Pistons at 8:10 p.m. ET. Detroit was last season’s top seed, but it fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of the conference semifinals with the opportunity to set up an Eastern Conference Finals battle against the Knicks.
The Pistons have several significant names on their injury report. All-NBA center Jalen Duren (hamstring) is out, as is Ugonna Onyenso (G-League). Elijah Harkless (G-League), Isaac Jones (G-League), Isaiah Joe (hip), and Ausar Thompson (ankle) are all questionable. For New York, only backup point guard Jose Alvarado (ankle) is out, and no players have any other injury designation.
The Knicks are 4.5-point favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook (-170 Moneyline), with the point total set to 219.5. Detroit is +142 on the Moneyline.
Below, I’ll break down tonight’s marquee matchup and offer a prediction.
Detroit Pistons at New York Knicks preview, prediction
The Pistons flew somewhat under the radar during the offseason, as they largely ran their team back after finally reaching a deal with Duren after a prolonged stalemate. However, they hardly missed a beat, as they’re 3-0 to open the 2026/27 season with wins over the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and Philadelphia 76ers, three teams that made at least the Play-In Tournament last season. After finishing with the ninth-best offense and the second-best defense in 2025/26, Detroit ranks fifth and seventh, respectively, so far. Cade Cunningham, an All-NBA First Teamer last season, has mostly picked up where he left off, and both John Collins and Duncan Robinson have been ultra-efficient from deep.
Similarly, New York had a quiet offseason, losing backup center Mitchell Robinson and replacing him with Andre Drummond but leaving the vast majority of its championship rotation intact otherwise. The Knicks have remained decent defensively through their first three games, ranking 12th in defensive rating, but their offense (29th) has floundered. Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges have both shot the ball poorly, and for as good as Karl-Anthony Towns has been, Brunson’s, Bridges’, and OG Anunoby’s offensive struggles have somewhat held the team down.
Pistons at Knicks pick, best bet
Last season, the Pistons lived in the paint, ranking third in restricted-area shots per game, and they were both more active and more efficient in that zone than New York. So far in 2026/27, Detroit actually hasn’t done a good job getting to the basket, attempting the fourth-fewest layups per game, but it has finished somewhat more efficiently than the Knicks, who might improve as Drummond and Josh Hart start hitting the layups that they made last season. Both teams had solid rim protection in 2025/26, and both have been sharp so far in 2026/27 as well. The Pistons should have the slight edge in interior play overall, since Reed has actually been a better rim protector than Duren and going from Robinson to Drummond is a huge downgrade, but Towns has been sharp enough on both sides of the ball that New York should stay competitive enough on the interior.
Both teams are elite on the glass, as each ranked in the top 10 in the total rebounding percentage in both 2025/26 and the start of 2026/27, but I’d give New York the slight edge tonight overall since Detroit snagged boards at a rate 4.7 percentage points worse with Duren off the floor last season. The Pistons might also be worse if the ultra-athletic Thompson, who also made a positive impact on the glass worth 4.0 percentage points, sits. Detroit probably has an advantage in transition, especially if Thompson plays, but the Knicks can mitigate that edge because they do a good job taking care of the ball. A key for both teams will be avoiding foul trouble, especially for Towns; both teams were foul-prone last season, but the Pistons did a better job getting to the charity stripe.
Shooting should sway this game back in the home team’s advantage. Neither team was very good at generating uncontested looks last season, and so far, New York has done a slightly better job creating such shots this season. Both teams have arguably been lucky this season, as the Knicks have canned 43.2% of their wide-open threes and Detroit 51.2%, but I’d bank on New York’s shooting being more sustainable in the long run, given Brunson’s accuracy (26.7% so far this season, 38.9% in his first four seasons seasons with the Knicks) and Bridges’ (0% this season, 37.1% in 2025/26). Collins, Robinson, and Daniss Jenkins won’t continue to make more than half of their triples. New York has given up a few too many uncontested threes so far (the third-most in basketball), since Bridges and Anunoby haven’t been as aggressive defensively in the early going, but perhaps the poor start will lead to further buy-in in the locker room.
Both of these teams were among the best, most well-rounded units in basketball last season, and three games of poor shooting from the Knicks’ stars isn’t enough to dissuade me. I don’t expect New York to shoot quite as well as it did during its magical title run, but it also feels like a stretch to expect Brunson, Bridges, and Anunoby all to stay below 30% from deep and for Collins and Robinson to stay above 50%. The Knicks should pick up their first win of the season tonight as their shots start falling.
