Detroit Pistons Archives - Swift Wave Radio

Knicks trading Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel to Pistons to clear cap space for pursuit of Jalen Brunson, per report

Last week, on draft night, the New York Knicks traded Kemba Walker and the No. 13 overall pick (Jalen Duren) to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for a future first-round pick. Now, just a few days later, the two sides have come together to make another deal.

This time, the Knicks will send Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, two future second-round picks and $6 million in cash to the Pistons in order to clear more cap space for their pursuit of Jalen Brunson, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. The Pistons will not be sending any players back to the Knicks in the deal.

By moving Burks and Noel, the Knicks will be able to clear an additional $19 million from their books. Combined with the money shed by trading Walker, they now have around $30 million in cap space this summer, which will be more than enough for them to offer Brunson a deal worth $100 million over four years.

Early on Tuesday, multiple reports suggested that the Knicks are now the favorites to sign Brunson. They’ve hired his dad as an assistant coach, worked to clear cap space and will now be able to make a competitive offer when free agency opens at 6 p.m. ET on June 30. While the Mavericks are better set up for immediate success, Brunson will get to take on a new challenge in New York and also have a bigger role on offense.

It’s also worth noting that because the Knicks now have the cap space to sign Brunson, the Mavericks’ chances of salvaging the situation by working out a sign-and-trade have been greatly reduced. As it stands, the Mavs are likely to lose Brunson for nothing, which will be a huge blow to their hopes of making another run in the playoffs next season.

As for the Pistons, this deal also impacts their summer plans. While reports after their successful draft suggested they would no longer pursue Deandre Ayton, there was still a chance they could go that route. Now, they are …

Basket Ball / Sports

Bey scores career-high 51 points, Pistons beat Magic 134-120

Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 51 points and the Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 134-120 on Thursday night to end a four-game losing streak.

Bey tied the franchise record with 10 3-pointers in 14 attempts. He was 17 for 27 overall.

Two nights after being torched for 16 points in the first quarter by Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving on his way to a 60-point game, the Magic gave up 21 points in the first quarter to Bey.

“I saw those highlights and it was just very efficient. It was within the flow of the game,” Bey said. “That was a great performance to watch, and I think just throughout the NBA there’s been a lot of great performances in the past two weeks. I’m just grateful to be in this league to have the opportunity.”

Marvin Bagley III added 20 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit in the matchup of the bottom two teams in the Eastern Conference. Franz Wagner led Orlando with 26 points.

“Rebuilding is always ugly,” Detroit coach Dwane Casey said, “but there’s a lot of beautiful moments like tonight.”

Bey finished the first half in spectacular fashion, scoring five points in less than five seconds. He hit a 20-footer while falling out of bounds with 8.8 seconds left, came up with a back-court steal and made a 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left, leaving the Pistons with a 73-62 lead.

“He had 30 points at half so we were definitely expecting 50,” said Pistons center Isaiah Stewart, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The Magic scored the first nine points of the game, but that lead was quickly erased by Bey. The Pistons moved ahead for keeps on a dunk by Stewart that broke a 50-50 tie midway through the second quarter.

“I think it was just the flow of the game,” Bey said. “I didn’t come into the game saying this is what I’m going to do, but you catch a rhythm and you get in a zone. My teammates did a great job of …

Basket Ball / Sports

Detroit snaps C’s nine-game win streak

The Boston Celtics’ nine-game win streak was snapped Wednesday night with a 112-111 home loss to the Detroit Pistons.

After Tuesday’s 48-point win over the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston found itself in a dogfight with Detroit. The Pistons went 16-for-30 (53.3%) from 3-point range and drilled seemingly every clutch shot down the stretch. Jayson Tatum couldn’t get the game-winning buzzer-beater to fall, and Detroit was able to escape with a hard-fought victory.

Jerami Grant paced the Pistons with 24 points while Saddiq Bey and rookie Cade Cunningham chipped in 20 apiece. Jaylen Brown led the C’s in scoring for the second consecutive night with 31 points. Tatum added 22, and Grant Williams stepped up with 17 in a starting role.

Here are three instant takeaways from the Celtics’ first loss since Jan. 28, which brings their record to 34-26 heading into the All-Star break. Their next game will take place Feb. 24 in Brooklyn.

Pistons play their hearts out

The Pistons (13-45) are dead-last in the Eastern Conference and have won only two of their last 14, but you wouldn’t know it by watching Wednesday night’s game.

Detroit’s physicality and red-hot 3-point shooting were the keys to its improbable victory. It didn’t let off the gas pedal in the fourth quarter despite the C’s going on a 13-0 run. Jerami Grant’s go-ahead shot with 19.1 seconds remaining proved to be the dagger, followed by Isaiah Stewart’s clutch swat of Jaylen Brown’s shot attempt.

The Pistons outrebounded the Celtics 18-2 on the offensive glass and forced 15 Celtics turnovers, including seven from Tatum.

…

Basket Ball / Sports

Warriors’ Steph Curry, Klay Thompson find rhythm against Pistons

Sometimes a date with the 10-win Detroit Pistons is exactly what a team needs. That seemed to be the perfect remedy for a handful of Warriors on Tuesday night at Chase Center in their 102-86 blowout win.

Playing the Pistons also clearly was the perfect potion for Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

Curry came out of the gates as the Warriors’ director of the offense with Draymond Green out. He didn’t attempt his first shot from the field — a missed layup — until there was just under six minutes remaining in the first quarter, but he quickly nailed his first 3-point attempt the next time the Warriors were on offense. From there on, the night was filled with flashes of vintage Splash Brothers between Curry and Thompson against a team full of young players and not many wins.

“That was probably the best stretch that Steph and Klay have played together and it was a really nice kind of groove in front of our home fans, which was really great to see,” Steve Kerr said after the win.

Tuesday night didn’t need to be a performance where Curry put up ungodly scoring numbers. This one was all about efficiency.

Despite sitting the final 13-plus minutes of the game, Curry scored 18 points in 29 minutes. He also dished eight assists, swiped three steals and committed only one turnover. Curry went 6-for-11 from the field and 4-for-8 from long distance.

He finished with a game-high plus-21 in plus-minus.

“Steph is someone who controls the offense,” Andrew Wiggins, who scored 19 points, said. “A lot of the attention is towards Steph, because we know what he can do already, but with all of them out there it makes the game easy.

“Steph makes the game easy for everybody.”

Thompson’s second career game in San Francisco and fifth game overall this season was his best since his return. He finished with a season-high 21 points, and his four assists also were a season high. His buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave him 17 points at …

Basket Ball / Sports

Phoenix Suns set franchise record with 18th straight win

Even with history looming as it approached a franchise record win streak, Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams said he tried not to bring it up to his team.

But after a 114-103 victory Thursday night over the visiting Detroit Pistons set a franchise mark with 18 consecutive wins, Williams allowed himself time to reflect.

“But it is really cool to be a part of something like that,” Williams said. “To win like this, the way we’ve won, guys out of the rotation, losing [Devin Booker to injury], the relentless attitude of our team, the way we stick together, it makes it really cool.

“Obviously it’s hard to win in this league. But we’re not satisfied. We talk about stretching it out but it takes the right things to do that. So we’ve taken it one game at a time.”

The 18th win topped the previous franchise mark of 17 set by the 2006-07 Suns, who went on to finish 61-21. The streak also ties the 2019 Bucks for the longest of any NBA team in the last five seasons. The longest streak in NBA history belongs to the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, who won 33 straight games.

Suns players tried to downplay how much they thought about the streak on a day-to-day basis.

“It feels good but at the same time, I don’t know, I guess it feels good but we got another tomorrow,” Cameron Payne said. “We have to keep going. It’s 1-0 today. That’s how I feel.”

Suns point guard Chris Paul, who finished with 12 points and 12 assists, said it was a nice piece of history for the team, but the focus remains on the bigger picture.

“But for us I think it’s always about the feeling of making sure we’re playing the game the right way,” Paul said. “We always talk about we have a standard. We say this every night and a win is a win but we feel like we could have played better.”

Phoenix was without their leading scorer in Booker, who …