Pistons Beat Knicks 112-90 To Close Season
By JEFFREY BERNSTEIN/Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - Reggie Jackson had 24 points and 11 assists and the Detroit Pistons closed out the season with a 112-90 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope each had 17 points for Detroit. Caron Butler had 14, and Greg Monroe, Anthony Tolliver and Jodie Meeks each had 10.
Tim Hardaway Jr. led the Knicks with 25 points, and Cole Aldrich added a career-high 24.
The Pistons (32-50) finished with their most wins since going 39-43 in 2008-09, the last season that they made the playoffs.
The Knicks (17-65) set a franchise record for fewest wins and finished with the second-worst record in the NBA. They have a 19.9 percent chance of getting the first pick in the lottery and can't pick lower than fifth.
Drummond, who finished with 12 rebounds, hit the game's first basket and Detroit never trailed.
After Aldrich tied it at 11 on a putback layup with 7:59 to go in the first quarter, the Pistons scored the next four points and never surrendered the lead.
The Pistons took their biggest lead of the first half, 50-35, on Drummond's layup with 4:58 remaining in the second quarter.
The Knicks pulled within eight at 54-46 on Hardaway's two free throws with 43 seconds left, but followed that with two of their 14 first-half turnovers on their last two possessions. Caldwell-Pope's free throw with 2 seconds left gave the Pistons a 55-46 lead at intermission.
After the Pistons built their lead back up to 13 points, 59-46, the Knicks put together a 15-2 run and pulled to 63-61 on Jason Smith's free throw with 7:07 left.
However, that was as close as the Knicks got as the Pistons responded with a 21-9 streak to take an 84-70 lead after three quarters.
The Pistons extended the lead to a game-high 29 points, 110-81, on Meeks' jumper with 2:59 left.
TIP-INS
Pistons: Greg Monroe (16.0 ppg, 10.3 rpg) and Andre Drummond (13.7 ppg, 13.5 rpg), are one of only two pair of teammates who are averaging double-doubles in the NBA this season. The only other twosome is DeAndre Jordan (11.5 ppg, 15.0 rpg) and Chris Paul (19.1 ppg, 10.2 apg) of the Clippers.
Knicks: Seven of the Knicks' top nine scores in 2014-15 did not play in the season finale. Carmelo Anthony (24.2 ppg), Andrea Bargnani (14.8), Alexey Shved (14.8), and Jose Calderon (9.1) are all injured, while Amare Stoudemire (12.0), J.R. Smith (10.9) and Iman Shumpert (9.3) were all traded. Jason Smith is the only Knick to play all 82 games, while Calderon (42), Langston Galloway (41) and Anthony (40) are the only Knicks to start at least 40 games this season.
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