Jalen Brunson drew on the World Series from his locker to explain the Knicks’ approach after 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. “Just get on base and hit singles and focus on little things until we get our rhythm.”
The win eased the semi-panic surrounding the defending NBA champions, if only briefly. Although it lacked style, it reversed several trends that had been troubling New York.
Breaking the Pistons’ hold
The victory broke the Pistons’ recent dominance over the Knicks. Detroit won all three meetings between the teams last season, by an average of 30 points. The Knicks had also struggled in the second half, being outscored by 26 points across the first three games of this season.
New York blitzed the Pistons through the middle two quarters, outscoring them 63-25. For that stretch, the Knicks resembled the team that played so well in the playoffs. Swingman Mikal Bridges also woke up against the conference-leading Pistons, hitting four 3-pointers after failing to hit any in the first three games.
“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 and Towns step up
Brunson did not have a standout night, going 5-for-18 for 23 points. He stayed aggressive, however, and forced the action. He also helped get Pistons defensive ace Ausar Thompson to foul out in the fourth quarter, as Detroit attempted a late charge.
Karl-Anthony Towns again played to his high personal standard. Brown challenged him at halftime to do a better job on Pistons centre Paul Reed, who had taken on more consistent duty after All-Star centre Jalen Duren was injured. Reed was an early source of activity as Detroit 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.
Limiting Cunningham
Containing Pistons All-NBA guard Cade Cunningham was the first priority, or close to it. Cunningham scored 40 points in his last visit to Madison Square Garden last season and appeared on course 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 realized, 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 was not getting carried away by one result, and he acknowledged that growth is still needed.
“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.”