NEW YORK — The streak is over. 

The Detroit Pistons took care of business at Madison Square Garden on Monday, defeating the New York Knicks 100-94 in Game 2 to tie the series at 1-1.

The Pistons’ last playoff win was on May 26, 2008, when they beat the Boston Celtics 94-75 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. They had lost 15 consecutive playoff games entering Monday, an NBA record, with sweeps in 2009, 2016 and 2019. 

Jalen Brunson scored 14 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, and extended a late 16-4 Knicks run by pump-faking a 3-point attempt and drawing the foul on Tobias Harris, making both to cut the Pistons’ lead to 94-92. Josh Hart managed to get open for a dunk on the other end, tying the game at 94 with 1:24 to play. 

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Dennis Schröder saved the day for the Pistons, knocking down a 3-pointer with 56.3 seconds on the clock to give them the lead again, 97-94. He split a trip at the line with 8.1 seconds left to make it a two-possession game, and Brunson’s 3-pointer on the other end missed before Jalen Duren clinched it with two more free throws. 

Cade Cunningham led the way for the Pistons with 33 points (11-for-21 overall) and 12 rebounds. Schröder added 20 points off of the bench, and Tobias Harris scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. 

Cade Cunningham thrives in Game 2

During Game 1 on Saturday, Cunningham scored 21 points but was held to 8-for-21 (38.1%) overall shooting. He nearly topped that output in the first half on Monday. 

He scored 20 of his 33 points in the first half on 7-for-12 shooting. The Pistons were able to consistently switch OG Anunoby off of Cunningham and he made the rest of the Knicks’ defenders pay. He drove right through and past Mikal Bridges on multiple possessions, took advantage of his size advantage over Brunson and even got to the line a few times, thanks to a friendly whistle. 

Midway through the second quarter, Cunningham drew back-to-back bump fouls on Anunoby and Hart and made all four free throws to extend the Pistons lead to 13, 48-35, and capped the first half by drawing another bump foul on Hart with 31 seconds on the clock, followed by a hesitation move and layup past Anunoby with 1.9 seconds left. 

Cunningham carried the offense in the third, scoring nine points on 4-for-7 shooting as the rest of the team went 4-for-14 from the floor. He was responsible for back-to-back Pistons buckets midway through the period that gave them their biggest lead of the night, 68-53. In transition, he lost Bridges with a behind-the-back move and finished a one-handed dunk. 

His first assist of the night wasn’t until the 5:03 mark of the third, driving baseline and finding Reed with a dump-off pass. It was an attack-first mindset all night.

Defense holds up without Stewart 

Without their best defender, the Pistons were able to collectively hold their own defensively. Their best quarter, similar to Saturday, was the third period — they only outscored the Knicks 20-18, but held them to 6-for-18 (33%) shooting in the period. They held the Knicks to 35.1% shooting in the second half. 

J.B. Bickerstaff mentioned before the game that Duren would have to step up with Stewart out. The third-year big man had a quiet playoff debut and wasn’t able to help slow the Knicks’ 21-0 run in the fourth, which began right after Stewart exited the game for good. He was better on Monday, avoiding early foul trouble even though he finished the night with five. 

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Next up: Knicks

Matchup: Pistons vs. New York, Game 3 of first-round playoff series.

Tipoff: 7 p.m. Thursday; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.

TV/radio: FSND, TNT, truTV; WXYT-FM (97.1).