New York — Somewhere around the second or third quarter, the Pistons knew they had done it. With a commanding lead over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, they were on the precipice of clinching their first playoff spot since 2016.
That was the first domino. There still was the unfinished business of figuring out their opponent, with a slim possibility of moving up to the No. 7 seed and facing the second-seeded Raptors, coach Dwane Casey’s former team.
Some of the Pistons’ staff was keeping tabs, scoreboard-watching on their phones during the Pistons game.