Cade Cunningham scored 33 points and Dennis Schroder hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 55.7 seconds left as the visiting Detroit Pistons evened their Eastern Conference first-round series, escaping with a physical 100-94 Game 2 victory over the New York Knicks on Monday night.

Game 3 is Thursday in Detroit.

"He's played in so many big games," Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said about Schroder. "When you go back and watch his history, he's clutch in big games. We talked about it earlier on when he got here, he's just fearless. There's no moment, no crowd, no noise that's too big that's going to rattle him."

After struggling through a rough playoff debut on Saturday when the Pistons blew an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter and were outscored 40-21, Cunningham delivered a masterful performance with 11-of-21 shooting from the field and helped Detroit overcome 37 points by New York star Jalen Brunson.

"We did what we were supposed to do and that was it: to win on the road and get homecourt, that's what we came here for," Bickerstaff said. "We approached it with a business-like mentality and learned from the fourth quarter the other night, but we just did what we were supposed to do."

Even with Cunningham's big showing, the Pistons nearly did not do enough to avoid folding down the stretch as they blew a 13-point lead, getting outscored 19-6 in a span of 5:55.

The Knicks roared back from an 88-75 deficit and forged a 94-94 deadlock with 1:15 remaining when Brunson passed out of a double team to a cutting Josh Hart, who converted a dunk.

On the next possession, the Pistons regained the lead when Schroder hit a 3 from the left side over Brunson late in the shot clock.

"We just didn't switch up on the Dennis 3," Brunson said. "I just didn't put myself in position to help the team win in that aspect. So it's tough."

Brunson missed a potential tying 3 with 46.5 seconds left and Mikal Bridges was off on another 3-pointer with 11 seconds left. Detroit finished it off by sinking three free throws in the final 8.1 seconds.

"We made a comeback," Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. "We had a good shot at the end. It didn't go in. So that's the way it goes sometimes, a make or miss league."

Schroder finished with 20 points for the Pistons, who stopped an NBA-record 15-game postseason losing streak that dated to Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics.

"It's a great feeling," Cunningham said. "It feels good to represent the city like we did tonight. It's something that the city's been waiting on for a long time, so we feel good about it."

Tobias Harris added 15 points and 13 rebounds while Jalen Duren collected 12 points, 13 boards and three blocks as the Pistons outrebounded New York 48-34.

Brunson scored 14 of his points in the fourth and Bridges added 19 in the game, but the Knicks shot 42 percent and got little from Karl Anthony-Towns and OG Anunoby, who were held to 10 apiece. Hart also scored 10.

"The rebounding was problematic. That's probably the difference in the game," Thibodeau said. "We got to get stops. I thought we had some good looks at threes that we didn't make."

Cunningham scored eight points as the Pistons shot 50 percent and did most of their scoring in the paint to build a 25-18 lead through the opening quarter. Detroit took a 42-30 lead on Cunningham's 3-pointer with 7:01 left, and he capped his strong half with a difficult off-balance six-footer in the lane over Mitchell Robinson. The Pistons led 55-49 at the break.

After the Knicks cut the deficit to four, the Pistons scored 11 straight and opened a 68-53 lead on a layup by Paul Reed with 5:02 left that followed a dunk by Cunningham.

The Pistons took a 75-67 lead into the fourth after Cunningham split two free throws with 2.6 seconds left, then opened an 88-75 edge on Reed's putback with 7:10 left before surviving the final minutes.

"It's the makeup of the locker room," Bickerstaff said. "We don't have guys who give in, guys who make excuses. We just have guys who show up every single day and lay it on the line for one another."

--Field Level Media