Detroit—The Cruise battled back to beat the Knicks 107-98 led by newcomer Marcus Thornton who scored 22 points off the bench in his first game with Motor City.
After being outscored 29-18 in the first quarter and trailing by as much as 17, the Cruise bounced back in the second quarter, outscoring the Knicks 31-17, and never looked back. Derrick Walton Jr. (18 points and 11 assists), and Cheick Diallo (18 points and 14 rebounds) both had double-doubles to go along with Jamorko Pickett’s 21 points and 7 rebounds.
The story of the game was the performance of NBA veteran, Marcus Thornton. The former LSU Tiger appeared in his first game since the 2018-19 season and led the way with 22 points and 6 rebounds. He finished 7-11 from the field, including 4-7 from deep. Thornton closed the first half with back-to-back three-pointers, giving the Cruise a 49-46 lead going into the break.
Motor City will look to complete a two-game sweep of the Knicks on Tuesday, January 11, at 7:00 PM ET.
ABOUT THE MOTOR CITY CRUISE
The Motor City Cruise, based in Detroit, MI, are the new NBA G League affiliate of the Detroit Pistons. One of 30 teams in the NBA G League, the Cruise are one of three new franchises added to the G League this season. They host the Wisconsin Herd in their inaugural home opener on November 11 at Wayne State Arena. Season tickets, group tickets and single-game tickets are available on cruisebasketball.com. Stay up to date with the Motor City Cruise by following @MotorCityCruise on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
