The New York Knicks no longer have to choose who they’ll root for when the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons face off for Game 7. The terrible, horrible, no-good, really bad struggles of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden just made the decision for them.
New York should want to face Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals, is what I mean.
Sure, there is a temptation to pull for the Pistons to hold home court, and meet the Knicks, again, in the next round. Resist it.
The Cavs look more vulnerable than the Pistons
For its part, Cleveland has more top-end talent than Detroit. It’s also more of a Jekyll-and-Hyde operation. The top-end talent isn’t just included. It’s the main source of inconsistency, if not outright disappointment.
We all know the jist and jokes about Playoff James Harden. He is once again living up to the reverse hype. He has looked old and slow and indecisive against the Pistons, a legitimate risk, on any given night, to have more turnovers than assists. His teams are a combined 8-18 in Game 6s and Game 7s for his playoff career. The Knicks’ defense will not fear the 36-year-old who couldn’t always get by Tobias Harris, or Duncan Robinson.
Donovan Mitchell’s struggles are even starker. He has never made a conference finals, but by and large, he’s known as a playoff-riser. For much of this postseason, and particularly against the Pistons, he’s been anything but.
Mitchell is shooting under 30 percent on above-the-break threes in the semifinals. He’s also downing just 54.8 percent of his looks at the rim…when he gets there…which isn’t often. Under 10 percent of his attempts are coming at the hoop. His minutes without Harden have mostly been a disaster, particularly in Game 6.
Cavs were +4 in 11 minutes with Donovan Mitchell OFF court in Game 6 tonight. They were -25 in his 37 minutes ON court.
— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) May 16, 2026
They lost the 8 minutes that Mitchell was on court without Harden by 16 points, shot 4-for-16 from the field in those minutes.
Credit Detroit’s defense, but Mitchell has played without any touch or feel for most of the series. Cleveland has him standing off in the corner, a decoy to draw away Ausar Thompson. The Knicks should want that for OG Annoby, or Mikal Bridges.
The Knicks shouldn’t fear the Pistons, but the Cavs profile as a steppingstone
When you play the Pistons, even when you win, you feel them. It’s the fouls. The aggressive plays on the ball. The jockeying for rebounds. The positional size. Their offense is prone to lulls and implosions. Their physicality verging on brutality is forever.
Their offense can be a slog. Jalen Duren is one more vanishing act away from becoming Paul Reed’s backup. Ausar Thompson looks at the hoop with an empty gaze whenever he’s given 16 to 60 feet of space to fire off a three. Cade Cunningham too often must go it alone for 40-plus minutes, the team’s lone consistent on-ball creator, with the exhaustion-induced turnovers to prove it.
Detroit won 60 games during the regular season, and finished with the No. 1 seed. Last year, during a Round 1 matchup in which New York was heavily favored, the Pistons darn near sent the Knicks packing, and subsequently spiraling toward existential crisis.
Yet, with the bar now higher, they seem weaker, more vulnerable, eminently solvable. All of that is debatable. The ease with which the Knicks can skirt past the Cavs and make their first trip to Finals since 1999 is not.
Though their offense should be more dynamic, they don’t play like it. More than that, New York’s defensive consistency has arguably usurped that of its offense. Detroit has carved out some success putting a small on Karl-Anthony Towns, and nudging the team toward Jalen Brunson hero ball.
The Knicks are better at navigating those situations, but with the Oklahoma City Thunder likely looming in the NBA Finals, it’s better to spare themselves the trouble of facing a team like the Pistons. They will leave a mark, regardless of the result. The Cavs, led by their two stars, are softer, easier, entirely unimitidating—an opponent the Knicks of today will neither sweat nor feel, and to whom they certainly won’t lose.
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