The Knicks swept the Pistons, 114-104, Thursday night to enter the All-Star halftime at 8-3 and with a winning record at 19-18.
With songs from ‘2s Go ‘Knicks’ from the 2000 strongholds that appeared in the garden, they beat the Eastern Conference worst Pistons for the second time in four days, making sure they took advantage of the recent soft program.
In fact, of their last eight wins, seven have come down to clubs well below 500 (Washington, Houston, Atlanta, Minnesota, Sacramento and Detroit).
But after seven years of being the league’s incident, the Knicks will take it on. Whether they can sustain it if the game is resumed is another story.
The Knicks will open the second half of the season with a four-game streak that will test their game – in Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Brooklyn and Philadelphia – and will only play Orlando again on March 18. They are 11-7 at home.
The dark garden even chanted ‘We Want Pinson’ on Thursday night and asked 12th man Theo Pinson.
The Knicks do not yet have former piston Derrick Rose (COVID-19 minutes), but that did not matter against the pitiful Pistons (10-27). All five Knicks starters scored double-digits by the end of the third quarter.
Julius Randle ended his brilliant half of the season with 27 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists. He will be on All-Star Sunday in Atlanta for his first appearance.
“We grow as a team and grow as a unit,” Randle said. “We have to go to rest and stay ready, because the second half will be an animal.”
Randle’s buddy, RJ Barrett, may be coming one day. He skyrocketed the All-Star half-time with a 21-point five-assist evening in which he shot 9 of 13.
Point guard Elfrid Payton was not only back in action after missing four consecutive games with a hamstring, but also started. He picked up six quick points, did not rust with his ability to penetrate, set the tone and finished with 20 points in 20 minutes.
The Knicks ended the first half with panache. They went on an 18-4 run to rise by 15 points before a rowing plant by Dennis Smith Jr. of Detroit in the final seconds made the halftime 59-46.
The run was fueled by Barrett, who led center Nerlens Noel (12 points, 11 rebounds) for an alley. Barrett then drove hard for a tomahawk jam. One possession later, Barrett picked up a long offensive setback and dropped for an essay.
Barrett scored 10 points at halftime, and Randle, who was selected as Team Durant in the All-Star Game earlier in the evening, scored a double doubling (18 and 10) at halftime.
Meanwhile, Frank Ntilikina, who started the previous game in San Antonio, continued his three-point genius. After hitting 3 of 3 against the Spurs, he came off the bench in the first quarter and hit three straight in four minutes to make him 6 for his last 6.
Noel, injuring their starting center with Mitchell Robinson, gave the Knicks a defensive spark in the first quarter with a monster block on the driving Sekou Doumbouya. The Pistons were rocky from the 3-point line and won 5 of 20 in the first half.