NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Cade Cunningham wasn't thinking about himself after the first postseason victory of his career. His focus was on all the Detroit fans who stuck by the Pistons during 17 years since the last one.
Now Cunningham and his teammates want to give those fans more than just a game. They want to get them a series.
Cunningham had 33 points and 12 rebounds, with 55 seconds left, and the Pistons snapped their NBA-record, 15-game postseason losing streak by beating the New York Knicks 100-94 on Monday night in Game 2 of their playoff series.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great feeling. It feels good to represent the city like we did tonight,鈥� Cunningham said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something that the city been waiting on for a long time, so we feel good about it and we鈥檙e ready to get back to the crib and perform in front of them.鈥�
The Pistons, who hadn鈥檛 even been to the postseason since 2019, recovered after the Knicks erased a 15-point deficit to earn their first playoff victory since Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference finals against Boston. The Celtics won the final two games of that series and the Pistons were then swept in 2009, 2016 and 2019 before dropping Game 1 at Madison Square Garden.
Now they are back in the win column, all tied in the series and will host Game 3 on Thursday night.
Schroder, who wasn鈥檛 even on the Pistons until a trade in February, nailed the 3-pointer after the Knicks had used a 16-4 run to tie it at 94 on Josh Hart鈥檚 dunk. He finished with 20 points off the bench.
The Pistons engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in NBA history this season, going 44-38 after a 14-win season in 2023-24 that included a 28-game losing streak, longest ever in a single season.
They were then in good shape to win Game 1 with an eight-point lead after three quarters, before the Knicks to win 123-112. Detroit built another eight-point advantage after three Monday, and this time made the big plays after another Knicks rally.
鈥淲e got bigger things we鈥檙e out here for,鈥� coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. 鈥淪o our focus, and that鈥檚 why our guys have been able to grow and be consistent, because they just think about the now and I thought they did a great job tonight of staying in the moment and doing what we needed to do.鈥�
Jalen Brunson scored 37 points for the No. 3-seeded Knicks, but Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby were each limited to 10 after both finished with 23 points in the opener.
鈥淎nd now it鈥檚 on us to respond,鈥� Brunson said.
Cunningham bounced back with a strong performance after the All-Star guard was just 8 for 21 in Game 1. The Knicks struggled to keep him out of the paint and defend him without fouling, as the Pistons shot 14 free throws to the Knicks鈥� two while building a 55-49 lead at halftime.
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AP NBA:
Brian Mahoney, The Associated Press
