Knicks fail to lock up No. 3 seed in loss to pesky Pistons

DETROIT — Nothing was settled. The Knicks had a chance to clinch the No.3 seed Thursday and essentially lock in Detroit as a first-round opponent.

Instead, they played it safe with rest days and minutes restrictions and were overwhelmed down the stretch Thursday by the scrappy Pistons, 115-106. As a result, the Knicks, with two games remaining, still need either a win or a Pacers defeat to secure No.3 in the East. Assuming that happens — the Knicks play the Cavaliers on Friday and the Nets on Sunday — their most likely first-round opponent is still the Pistons.Nevertheless, Detroit can jump up a spot by winning its final two games.

That would leave the Bucks as the Knicks’ opening playoff opponent. Contrary to Tom Thibodeau’s reputation, the Knicks weren’t fully invested in winning Thursday.They sat two starters — OG Anunoby and Josh Hart — on the first night of a back-to-back, with Mitchell Robinson also shelved. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns were clearly operating on restrictions, totaling under 30 minutes apiece.

Then they both came up short late, with the Pistons going on a 9-0 run in the middle of the fourth quarter to take control. Towns committed seven turnovers, including four in the fourth quarter.Brunson was scoreless in the final period.Thibodeau took a hard detour with his rotation, giving PJ Tucker heavy minutes for the first time this season.

Tucker, 39, who sat out this season before signing a 10-day contract with the Knicks in March, mixed it up physically with the feisty Pistons and buried his first points of the season on a trey in the third quarter. It represented his first NBA bucket in exactly a year. At one point in the second quarter, the Knicks produced a lineup with Tucker, Cam Payne, Landry Shamet and Delon Wright. Despite their lack of experience playing together, the Knicks reserves held their own — even building a double-digit lead in the opening half.The starters blew it in the fourth quarter.A Kni...