The Pistons fans will get to enjoy one final NBA game played in Detroit this season.

Can you believe the Knicks play basketball today as New York keeps getting MSG ready for a rambunctious Game 5 series-clinching celebration?

Even more, can you believe the folks from the NBA scheduled Sunday’s Game 4 at 7 p.m. MYTIME so I can watch it live without losing sleep another damn night!?

Here’s what Coach Thibs and a few others human beings have said before today’s affair.

Tom Thibodeau

On rebounding and defense:

“Yeah I think it’s important. I think a big part of winning is your defense, your rebounding and keeping your turnovers down. That puts you in position to win. So we always talk about the last part of the play, you have to be the strongest. You have to finish strong, so finish everything. So you challenge shots, then you’ve gotta rebound. It requires you to make a second, third, fourth effort.”

On guarding Cade Cunningham:

“With a guy like Cade, you’ve got to try to make him work as much as you can. He’s a great player and it requires your whole team. It’s not just one particular guy, but it’s everybody working in unison and to have the wherewithal to continue to do it over and over again and communicate early. And you have to be aggressive and you have to challenge shots. And he has the ability when you challenge his shot, to make it. So we know that it requires a lot, it requires great effort.”

On how he decides to deploy different units and rotating players:

“The game tells you what to do. You’re trying to find a rhythm in the game with units. It’s easy to look at a boxscore after and say what do you have to do to get this guy going. It’s more how does a group function together? How do they create rhythm for each other, how do they function as a unit — both on offense and defense? So you’re looking for the right combinations and everything does matter—each possession matters.”

On not looking too far ahead—to a possible second-round matchup with Boston:

“I think each game is important. The challenge though is to reset and understand how we are going to win the game, what goes into that. Not get sidetracked by ‘this could mean this, this could mean that.’ But to understand the intensity that has to go into it. The togetherness that has to go into it and the intelligence that has to go into it. Usually, that’s the team that wins. And so that’s what we have to focus on.”

Josh Hart

On the improved rebounding in Game 3:

“Yeah, the gap was tighter [in Game 3]. It was better, but we still lost [on the boards]. We got to make sure we have a good emphasis on the glass.

“Sometimes we’re lucky we can get away with losing the rebounding battle, but that’s something that we want to win every night. Especially getting offensive rebounds, getting extra shots, limiting them to one shot.”

On the recent comparisons between this and last year’s Knicks:

“Comparison is the thief of joy. We’ll go to compare ourselves from last year, for what?

“If you continue to just look back and compare yourself to years prior and teams prior, you lose the perspective of what you have. We feel like we have the toughness, but we also feel like we have the offensive firepower to go out there and put up 140. So, it doesn’t really affect us. I just think it’s idiotic to compare us to the past because we’re the New York Knicks of 2024–25. It’s either you get behind us or you don’t. If you’re not, stand outside when we have success.”

On keeping a focused postseason mentality:

“Obviously, you want to go out there and win every game. That’s not realistic, but we just want to win every game. We don’t focus on rest or trying to make it a short series or not. We want to go out there and win every game and whatever happens, happens.”

On how he approaches rebounding rocks:

“I haven’t boxed-out since like high school. My philosophy is just go get the ball.

“If it’s a guard, I’m usually always going [full-speed to the rim] every time. And that’s part of the reason why I don’t box-out, right? Because if you tell a guard turn and box-out and make sure this guy doesn’t get the ball, he has no idea where the ball is gonna bounce.”

“If I have a big on me, and they’re roaming, I’m usually able to get like a free run in. So sometimes it depends.

“If I’m guarding Harris or Thompson or someone that’s in the post or in the corner, I’m in a little bit better position [to crash the glass], but if it’s someone like a Hardaway or Beasley, sometimes you make that adjustment putting me on those guys, and then you know my defensive rebounding might dip because I’m on the perimeter more.”

On finding opportunities while others box out:

“We did that several times, where he’ll turn and box-out, and I’ll get the rebound just ‘cause it’s right next to him right next to his head. And if he just turned and looked at the ball, he would have got it.”

On the Knicks’ physicality:

“That’s one thing about us. I think we all like physicality, and we thrive in those kind of games and situations.”

On NBA pettiness:

“The NBA is a very petty world. The game is petty. The league [can] be petty at times. They see what’s going on in the summer and then two guys got beef and then that game is opening night. So that’s the whole league, including myself, we’re very petty. If a guy has the ball, you smack the ball away just to be annoying. But you know that and our personality we never really let that frustrate us or let that take us out of our game. I think the only time we really get outside of ourselves is when we’re yelling at refs and focusing on things we can’t control.”

On his ever-changing adaptation to new roles:

“Sometimes I’ve got to remind myself that I’m a guard. I find myself being in that dunker spot and stuff like that. So it’s fine. Can’t sit there and say I love it, but that’s the position I’m in right now and I’m going to do that to the best of my ability.

“But, you know, I think that’s the good part of being a chameleon. You can adapt to different situations.”

Mikal Bridges

On the improved ball movement in Game 3:

“That’s how you’re gonna win games. You can’t do it by yourself, it takes everybody. Just moving the ball, playing as a unit, it’s gonna be good looks.”

On defending Cade Cunningham:

“I think it’s two different looks. Any guy that’s going [against us] is going to get a different look from me and OG. You give really good guys, really good players the same looks, they’ll be able to beat it. So just mix it up sometimes, [that] will help.”

On Detroit fans booing Brunson:

“That’s nothing. Words ain’t gonna hurt him. That’s wasting their breath or just to get the crowd going. But that don’t bother him at all.”

On the perception that the Pistons are tougher than the Knicks:

“They’re gonna play hard, but it’s the playoffs. I don’t know why [people think] we’re not bringing it equally as hard or more. So I don’t get that.”

On staying focused on the main task:

“At the end of the day, just win the game. Whatever issues you got with somebody, as long as it’s not a detriment to the team or whatever. But at the end of the day, just win the game.”

On Hart’s adaptation to a new role in the NBA after being the No. 1 guy at Villanova:

“A lot of people average 20 or higher points in college and then you get a role in the league. Just try to keep getting better every year and keep trying to expand it.

“He’s doing a good job. Everybody’s dealing with that coming out of college where your role is going to change a little bit coming from college to the league.”

J.B. Bickerstaff (Detroit Pistons Head Coach)

On Isaiah Stewart’s recovery after missing back-to-back games:

“He’s been working. Getting better every day.”

On Cade Cunningham dealing with Anunoby’s defense:

“Obviously, they want to keep Anunoby matched up as much as they possibly can. They’re going to put two bodies on him when we are in the pick and roll. I felt they did a good job offensively finding the spaces and getting to his spot. So, again, things we work on we see and we will go out and use again tomorrow.”

On Cade’s resilience:

“He’s just physical. He’s got great feet. He’s strong. He’s got a dogged mentality. But again, we’ve seen Cade be able to get to where he wants to get to and do what he needs to do. We give him [Anunoby] respect because he’s earned it, but I still like Cade’s chances.”

On creating advantages thanks to Cade’s skill set:

“Well, that’s the thing with Cade. It’s not always going to be about scoring. It’s going to be the setup. So if they put two guys on him, it’s how we create the four-on-three situations. I like our chances when we’re playing four-on-three versus anybody. The first game he had 12 assists. He’s figuring out how to manage the game and I think what hurt us this last game was our defense than anything we did offensively.”

On the Pistons’ late defensive issues in Game 3:

“What hurt us in this last game was more our defense than anything we did offensively.”

Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons Player)

On the need for more aggressive starts:

“That’s what we have to do every game — come out punching. Come out with aggression.”

On learning from every postseason game:

“All these things are making us a better team and I think it’s going to make us better to go win this series.”

Paul Reed (Detroit Pistons Player)

On the Knicks’ physicality in Game 3:

“Defensively—I mean, last game they were a lot more physical than they were before. I feel like that helped them with their defense. We have to counter that.

“Just like holding, pushing, making us work for every spot, every inch. We’re trying to catch the ball on the elbow, they’re pushing us out. I’m attacking the [glass] they’re holding me. I can’t really get loose.”