While the New York Knicks continue to rest up for their second straight Eastern Conference Finals appearance, the two teams vying to be their direct challenger, the Pistons and Cavaliers, are set to head into a do-or-die Game 6 on Friday night.
As things currently stand, Cleveland has the edge coming into the contest, as they boast a 3-2 series lead following Wednesday's 117-113 win and will be playing out on their home turf at Rocket Arena.
From the sheer standpoint of possibly gaining even more of an edge in the next round, there's a case to be made that the Knicks should actually be rooting for Detroit to tie things up in this upcoming bout and force the series to go all the way to Game 7, for, no matter which team wins, they'll certainly be coming into round three with their gas tank near empty.
In fact, no one should be hoping for a comeback from the Pistons more than Karl-Anthony Towns, as it would only make the likelihood of him having a field day in the conference finals all the more probable.
Knicks star could feast against a struggling and fully fatigued Jalen Duren
During the regular season, the Knicks struggled mightily against the Pistons, and, from an individual standpoint, so did Towns.
In their three matchups against one another, New York was swept while the big man posted middling averages of 13.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 turnovers, and 3.0 fouls on 44.4 percent shooting and 33.3 percent shooting from deep.
Of course, this was the pre-playoff KAT.
Since the postseason kicked off, the six-time All-Star has found new life, serving as arguably the biggest catalyst in New York's historic run by serving as the focal point of the offense and posting sensational averages of 17.4 points, 10.0 boards, 6.6 assists, and 1.5 blocks on 58.7 percent shooting from the floor and 48.3 percent shooting from distance.
A revenge face-off with a completely fatigued Detroit team that has seen two Game 7s already and, more specifically, has a currently fading Jalen Duren could be the perfect recipe to keep the good times rolling for Towns.
Despite having a career-best campaign in 2025-26, the Pistons big man's production has seemingly fallen off a cliff here in the playoffs.
Seeing a 9.4 point drop-off in his scoring efforts (the second-worst regression for an All-Star ever behind Wilt Chamberlain) and a wildly ineffective defensive presence that finds him sporting the worst on-court defensive rating as well as the worst opponent field goal percentage on his team, there's no denying that Duren is playing like a shell of his regular season self.
Amid a three-game losing streak, things have gotten so bad for the 22-year-old (a minus-42 throughout this stretch) that he was literally unplayable down the stretch of Detroit's Game 5 loss, as he literally logged zero minutes of action in both the fourth period and overtime.
Now, granted, there is an argument that, with the way that he and the team have been playing thus far, the Knicks might not have all that much of a preference when it comes to who they'd rather face off against between the Cavs and Pistons.
However, for Towns specifically, if one were to ask him which frontcourt he'd rather match up with, one spearheaded by a recent DPOY winner who's currently surging in the playoffs and one led by a rapidly regressing, old-school pivot, it's safe to assume he'd go with the latter 10 times out of 10.
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