Tank Job?

The Knicks lost to Detroit in a game that spawned no shortage of conspiracy theories

Good morning.

Well that was quite a night. Every game this season has felt like a Rorschach test to some degree, but none more than this. Let’s get into it, keeping in mind that New York has two more games to go: tonight against the Cavs and Sunday in Brooklyn. At this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to how hard they try to win either one. I’m off halftime tonight, but will see everyone on Sunday to close out the regular season.

Game 80: Pistons 115, Knicks 106

• Without OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks still got out to a 35-29 first quarter lead behind some incredibly hot shooting.

• A rag tag bench led by PJ Tucker maintained the advantage and pushed the lead to 13 midway through the third, but Detroit closed the third on a 20-7 run to tie it up entering the fourth.

• A back and forth start the final period gave way to one of New York’s worst crunch time performances of the season, as poor play design, shot selection and execution resulted in a scoreless stretch of over four minutes and a runaway victory by the Pistons.

• With Indiana’s win over a Cavs team resting their stars, the Knicks’ magic number remains at one.

Zyon Pullin.

Alondes Williams.

Terry Taylor.

Riley Minix.

Braxton Key.

These fine gentleman are among the 565 individuals who saw time on an NBA basketball court this season, and going into Thursday night, they all had one thing in common:

They’d played more minutes than P.J. Tucker.

After not playing a single minute for the Los Angeles Clippers to start the season and then getting traded to the Jazz and finally the Raptors before getting waived, Tucker arrived in New York expecting to play about as many minutes as you and me.

That all changed on Thursday when the NBA’s second oldest player behind LeBron James got off the bench in the first quarter to check in at backup center for Karl-Anthony Towns. By the end of the night, Tucker had played 27 minutes in total, including the final 2:36 in what was at the time a tight game. It catapulted him past 34 other players, all the way up to 531st on the minutes leaderboard for this season.

To his credit, Tucker played well, as we’ll get into in the Stars section below. It doesn’t change the fact that someone who hasn’t played a #meaningful NBA minute this season was on the floor during crunch time in a game that ostensibly held meaning for the Knicks.

Meanwhile, Precious Achiuwa - who was also quite good - exceeded his season high in a regulation game by playing 40 minutes. Both Achiuwa and Tucker were called into duty because OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson were all in street clothes. By the same token, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t crack 30 minutes while Mikal Bridges played just 33. Even considering that KAT was in foul trouble and JB is coming off an injury, those totals are notable in light of the recent past. Brunson played 38:26 on Tuesday against Boston, and Thibs has trusted Towns with foul trouble before in big moments of important games.

Thursday night in Detroit, apparently, did not qualify.