DETROIT — This is why you pay OG Anunoby and trade for Mikal Bridges — even if the cost of doing business is steep. Because when the Knicks need stops, they call for the wings.
With a playoff series on the line, “Wing Stop” delivered.
Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham got hot in the second, third and fourth quarters of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at Little Caesars Arena and posted 25 points, nine rebounds and nine assists on 11-of-21 shooting from the field on Sunday.
Cunningham cooked until Anunoby and Bridges turned off the stove. Anunoby forced Cunningham into a mid-range miss. On the next possession, Bridges stripped him driving to the rim. And with the game — and perhaps Detroit’s season — on the line, Anunoby contested Cunningham into another mid-range miss before officials missed a foul call on Tim Hardaway Jr.’s attempt to win the game.
“They’ve been great all year, regardless of what people say or think,” Knicks captain Jalen Brunson said after the game. “It’s tough to guard people in this league. This league is clearly offensively driven. It’s tough to stop players one-on-one, but when you have two guys like that who just go out there, just play hard every possession, I like their chances.
“They’ve been doing that since I’ve known them, since I’ve been seeing them play, and I’m just glad they’re on my team.”
The late-game defensive heroics erased what could have been an epic collapse. The Knicks built a 16-point lead in the second quarter, then watched it disintegrate into an 11-point deficit with 8:35 left in the fourth.
“Those guys are so tough minded,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Cunningham is a great player. You need your whole team tied together on that. You have to try to make them work. And then you have to challenge your shots and fight through screens. They have the mental toughness to do that, play after play. That says a lot about both of those guys.”
Bridges, despite struggling through a brutal shooting night — starting 1-of-9 and finishing just 3-of-12 from the field for eight points in 44 minutes — came up biggest when it mattered most.
“Just playing defense, man,” Bridges said. “I think [Karl-Anthony Towns] did a great job of being up, making [Cunningham] redirect. I saw the ball right there. I’ve gotta use this wingspan for something, so I just kinda saw it, and KAT made him change directions, and I was able to get it.”
It’s the luxury New York invested heavily to acquire. The Knicks signed Anunoby to a franchise-record five-year, $212.5 million deal and traded five draft picks to the Nets to acquire Bridges last summer. Through four first-round games, Pistons players are shooting 3.8 percent worse when defended by Anunoby and a whopping 10.2 percent worse (just 36.4% from the field) when guarded by Bridges, according to the NBA’s stats site.
The two interchangeable wing defenders have proven they can lock up stars late in playoff games — and soon, they’ll face an even bigger test.
With a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Pistons, the Knicks are all but penciled into a second-round matchup against the reigning champion Boston Celtics, where Anunoby will likely match up with Jayson Tatum and Bridges will draw Jaylen Brown.
For now, though, the Pistons are getting a full taste of New York’s defensive versatility. A good defense doesn’t give elite playmakers the same look, and with Anunoby and Bridges, the Knicks are mixing it up.
“OG, obviously he’s our guy defensively, but it’s great when you have him, and then you have ‘Kal who can switch off and give OG a little bit of a break and get stops,” said Josh Hart. “Those two – we’re completely comfortable with them on the ball. Especially playoff time where they can be physical, use their length [and] use their physicality to their benefit. And it’s something that we’re comfortable with. Probably, next game, if OG needs a little break, switch ‘Kal on him and give him a different look. But it’s something that we’re comfortable with.”
The Pistons had every opportunity to tie the series and flip the pressure back onto New York. Instead, they folded in the face of the Knicks’ closing defense — and now, to keep their season alive, they’ll have to find a way to solve the same wings who shut them down when it mattered most.
“Big-time, man. Shoutouts to ‘Kal and OG. We keep switching them,” said veteran guard Cam Payne. “They both got different kind of dynamics on defense and kind of keep him guessing. Like you said: [Cade] was going, but they made the stops that we needed and that’s all you can ask for.”
“Defensive demon right there,” Mitchell Robinson added on Anunoby. “That effort and hard work paid off.”
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