Knicks must fix season-long weakness in battle vs. Pistons

The Pistons badly exposed a Knicks weakness during the regular season — and it’s not even particularly one of their own strengths. In four regular-season games against the Pistons — in which the Knicks went 1-3, including losing the final three matchups — Detroit torched them from 3-point range.The Pistons shot 32.4, 50.0, 44.1 and 36.4 percent from behind the arc in those four games, respectively.

Combined, the Pistons went 52-for-126 from 3 — good for a stellar 41.3 percent. For context, the Bucks led the NBA in 3-point percentage in the regular season with a 38.7 percent mark. “[Tim] Hardaway [Jr.] is a 3-point shooter.[Malik] Beasley had a monster year from 3.

[Cade] Cunningham can shoot it,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said after practice on Wednesday.“You look at it, you study it, and you have to prepare for what you’re facing next.” The scary part for the Knicks is that the Pistons are not even really known for their 3-point prowess. As a team, they shot 36.2 percent from 3 during the regular season — 17th in the NBA.

They took 35.4 3s per game — 22nd in the league. But the Knicks struggled to guard the 3 throughout the year, a big part of the reason they regressed so dramatically on defense from last year.It came with a strange dichotomy, however.

Opponents shot 36.7 percent from deep against the Knicks in the regular season, the fifth-highest mark in the league and one spot worse than the Pistons at 36.6 percent.But Knicks opponents took only 35.7 3s and made 13.1 of them per game, fifth and 10th least in the NBA.So, the Knicks don’t give up a lot of 3-point attempts, but when they do, opponents hit them at a high rate. “Improving communication,” OG Anunoby said Wednesday of how to fix that issue.

“Closing out better, try to limit more 3s.” The Knicks will have their hands full trying to contain Cunningham, who dominated them in the four regular-season matchups.And all that attention on him likely will create c...