Knicks guard Jalen Brunson compared his team’s approach to the World Series, saying the Knicks need to keep hitting singles. The defending NBA champions picked up their first win of the season, a 111-97 victory over the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden.
“Just continue to hit singles,” Brunson said following the game. “Just get on base and hit singles and focus on little things until we get our rhythm.”
The win eased some of the semipanic surrounding the Knicks, if only for a moment. Although it lacked style, it reversed several trends that had worried the team.
The Pistons had dominated the Knicks in the regular season, winning all three meetings last season by an average of 30 points. The Knicks had also been a porous second-half team, being outscored by 26 points across their first three games.
Knicks Blitz Pistons in the Middle Quarters
The Knicks outscored the Pistons 63-25 in the second and third quarters. For that stretch, they looked like the New York Knicks of the playoffs. Swingman Mikal Bridges also woke up, hitting four 3-pointers after failing to hit any in the first three games. The result gave the conference-leading Pistons their first loss of the season.
“We had more good moments in this game in totality than we did in the first three games, and that’s why we got the win,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said. “Our awareness, our level of physicality on [Detroit’s shooters] was a lot better than the previous game.”
Brunson did not have a standout night, going 5-for-18 for 23 points. He remained aggressive and forced the action, however, and he helped get Pistons defensive ace Ausar Thompson to foul out in the fourth quarter as Detroit attempted a late charge.
Towns Responds at Halftime
Karl-Anthony Towns once again played to his personal standard. Brown reportedly challenged him at halftime to do a better job on Pistons centre Paul Reed. Reed had taken on more consistent duty after the injury to All-Star centre Jalen Duren, and he was an early source of activity as the Pistons built a 15-point lead.
“I told him the truth, ‘KAT, the guy is killing us on the glass and if he’s getting a rebound, he’s putting it back up. If he catches it on the perimeter, guard him,'” Brown said. “And he did those things. I thought that shift in mindset was big for us in the second half.”
Towns finished with 27 points and 20 rebounds. It was the 14th time he has scored at least 25 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, and the fourth time he has done so in a Knicks uniform.
“I thought we did a good job of picking up our intensity and our physicality. I said before the game for us to win this, we have to be the best version of ourselves and not worry about everything else that’s going on,” Towns said.
Knicks Contain Cunningham
Containing Pistons All-NBA guard Cade Cunningham was the first priority, or close to it. Cunningham scored 40 in his last visit to Madison Square Garden last season and appeared headed for another big performance. This time, he shot 4-of-14 after the first quarter.
The Knicks locked in on Cunningham. With no other credible scoring option, they steadily built a sizeable lead.
“Our guys realised, no I can’t react to them. I got to dictate to them what’s going to happen,” Brown said. “And do it with a smart level of physicality.”
Brown did not treat one result as a cure-all. He acknowledged that the team still has growth ahead.
“Is it fixed? No. it ain’t fixed. Nothing’s really fixed. What tonight shows us is we’re more than capable if we put our minds to it, and that’s what we got to continue to try to build off of.”