On Saturday night, the first-seeded Detroit Pistons blew a 23-point lead to the Brooklyn Nets. For those counting at home, those are the bottom-feeding Brooklyn Nets. The Nets, who are playing for ping-pong balls instead of playoff seeding. It was an absolutely brutal showing from the best team in the East, and New York Knicks fans should be laughing.
For the past couple of seasons, the Knicks and Pistons have been one of the NBA’s blossoming rivalries. They played each other in last year’s playoffs, with New York taking the Round 1 victory, and ever since, there’s been bad blood between the two fanbases (especially on social media).
And New York will absolutely take the chance to laugh at Detroit after Saturday night’s mess.
Pistons blew 23-point lead to Nets, and Knicks fans should be laughing
Detroit has been the best team in the East for most of the seasons. They had two guys named to this year’s All-Star team (Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren), and JB Bickerstaff coached the game.
Cunningham wasn’t active on Saturday against the Nets, so the Pistons didn’t necessarily have as easy a pathway to victory as they normally would. But still, the Nets are the Nets. Detroit should have won the game.
And the fact that they were up by 23 points and proceeded to blow the lead makes it even worse. The peak of their lead was midway through the third quarter, and Brooklyn slowly found a way back into the game, taking a lead in the final few minutes.
Michael Porter Jr. finished the night with 30 points, and in the fourth quarter, Day’Ron Sharpe had nine points and Ziaire Williams put up eight. Brooklyn won the final frame by a score of 34-21.
The Nets will always be the Knicks’ little brothers. At least, that’s how Knicks fans see it. New York will always be Knicks territory, and Brooklyn will play second fiddle.
That’s what makes this loss even funnier for Knicks fans. Not only did the Pistons, their newfound rivals, blow a lead, but they blew a lead to the Knicks’ younger sibling.
And the Nets are one of the worst teams in the NBA.
There’s no doubt that Knicks fans will be flocking to social media to rub this loss in Pistons fans’ faces, especially considering they just earned a huge 39-point win over the Denver Nuggets.
New York fans are riding high, and they won’t hesitate to pick on Pistons fans while they’re down.