DETROIT _ The Knicks at least will be home for the holidays, another advantage from what has been a fortuitous schedule throughout the first half of the season.
But their chilly road woes still aren't showing any signs of stopping, falling to 2-10 away from Madison Square Garden with a tough 104-101 loss to the Pistons on Friday night in their initial visit to first-year Little Caesars Arena.
Kristaps Porzingis led the Knicks (17-15) with 29 points on 12 for 28 shooting, including 10 in the fourth quarter, a marked improvement on his one-point outing (0-for-11) during the previous night's home decision over Boston.
Enes Kanter chipped in 22 points and 16 rebounds and Courtney Lee added 16 for the Knicks, while Tobias Harris scored 24 and Andre Drummond had 18 with 15 boards for Detroit (18-14).
The Knicks clawed back from an early 13-point deficit and were tied early in the fourth quarter, before a couple of Ish Smith drives pushed the Pistons ahead, 93-85, midway through the period.
Porzingis netted 10 points during a 16-4 surge that left the Knicks up by six with 1:17 remaining. But Detroit scored the next five points, including a runner and a free throw by Reggie Jackson (10 points) for a 102-101 lead with 23 seconds to go.
Reggie Bullock rejected Lee's ensuing drive and Stanley Johnson dropped in two free throws before Porzingis' last-second heave didn't even hit the rim at the final horn.
Michael Beasley, who'd netted a season-best 32 against the Celtics to make up for Porzingis' ineffectiveness, was held to six points in just 13 minutes off the bench.
"As long as my fellas (are) going fine, with me, playing (time) doesn't matter," Beasley said before the game. "Of course, everyone wants to play 48 minutes a night, but as long as we're winning and the camaraderie is good, I'm happy.
"Like I said, I worked extremely hard on my game off the court, so I'm ready get in any second. But we have a lot of great players on this team. The ultimate goal is to win."
The Knicks surprisingly defeated Cleveland on the road in October, and they won a semi-road game in Brooklyn earlier this month, but they otherwise hadn't posted victories in any of their other first 11 tries outside Manhattan, where they are an impressive 15-5 for the season.
Following their home matinee against Philadelphia on Christmas, the Knicks will play 16 of their next 20 on the road.
"Well, they've played 20 (games) at home and 11 on the road, so a cynical person, which I'm not, would say that the league tried to help them build some confidence early in the year by giving them a lot of home games and giving them a chance to get going and pick up some confidence," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said before the game. "That's what a cynical person would say, not me. Not me. It's just chance that they got that many home games early on."
The teams entered in a three-way tie with Washington for the final three playoff positions in the Eastern Conference, with the Knicks blowing a 21-point lead and dropping the only previous meeting this season against the Pistons at MSG in their home opener on Oct. 21.
"Well, they have a better understanding of what we're doing on both sides of the ball. So that's helpful," Jeff Hornacek said of the Knicks before the game. "I think our half-court defense has been pretty good...They know each other a little bit better now. Short training camps, some new guys, they had to kind of feel out what everybody likes to do. They're starting to get it."
Hornacek's squad actually started to get crushed from the opening tipoff, falling behind 15-2 to start the game. The 13-point hole would be the largest deficit of the game, however, and the Knicks eventually used put-back dunks by Kanter and Porzingis amid a 14-0 and 18-2 run to grab a 75-70 lead late in the third quarter.
