Kristian Winfield: The real Knicks stood up in the 4th quarter vs. Pistons

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on Apr 19, 2025

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NEW YORK — The first three quarters were cute. The real Knicks stood up in the fourth.

The Detroit Pistons had the Knicks in the first half. They made things tough in New York with their combination of rough-housing centers (Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart), held Jalen Brunson in check through the first two quarters, and even took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter, nearly their largest advantage of the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoff series on Saturday.

And then it happened: a 21-0 fourth-quarter run from the Knicks to blow the game wide open.

The series will follow.

The Pistons had the opportunity of a lifetime in their first playoff game in the last eight years: the chance to steal home-court advantage by swiping Game 1 from beneath the Knicks’ feet.

The Knicks absorbed the Pistons’ best shots, then landed a flurry of haymakers spread throughout the fourth quarter to bury Detroit beneath an avalanche of buckets to open the series.

And now, the Knicks have set the tone. It was always clear New York had the better team on paper. It came down to who would execute between the lines with the stakes heightened and the whistle tucked.

Accolades: check.

Playoff pedigree: check

Coaching advantage. check.

Best player on the floor? What was a question entering the series became a resounding checkmark in Game 1.

The Las Vegas betting odds paint the full picture: The Knicks — who have two All-Stars to the Pistons’ one, three recent playoff appearances to Detroit’s zero, and a battle-tested head coach in his 13th NBA season against a ninth-year head coach in his first season in Detroit — were always favored to win this series.

But would it be quick? Would the Knicks struggle against a Pistons team that got the best of them three times in four regular season matchups? Would Detroit be too tough, too physical of an opponent for the Knicks to overcome in a seven-game series.

Game 1 gave New York all the answers it needs in its first-round series.

The Knicks may not be in the same conversation as the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, but they are certainly head-and-shoulders above the Detroit Pistons.

But the Knicks can’t fall for the trap, and Brunson, who finished with 34 points on 12-of-27 shooting from the field to go with eight assists, had a frustrating start to his evening.

It happened to Trae Young. It happened to James Harden. Now it’s happening to the captain — and he has to adjust fast.

The foul baiting that served him so well during a regular-season campaign that landed him All-Star starter honors isn’t going to work in the playoffs.

That means the whiplash on driving contact and sudden stopping in front of trailing defenders need to become a thing of the past.

The officials are biting on it. Neither are the Pistons.

“You just have to make it difficult. He makes tough shots,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said ahead of Game 1 at The Garden on Saturday. “He is, in my opinion, one of the best winners that this league has currently playing — but it just can’t be easy, right?

“Like, you know his first move. You got to try to eliminate his first move. You’ve got to make him a shot-taker and not get to the free throw line — small things like that.

“But again, we know who he is. Obviously [we] have that respect for him, but we just have to make it a challenge to be as physical as we can without fouling, limit his touches, try to keep him from his sweet spots and all those things.”

Brunson, an all-world scorer and playmaker known to raise his level of play in the postseason, missed 11 of his first 13 shots, and he was out of rhythm because he was hunting foul calls and not buckets, looking to deceive the officials and not the defender.

It worked in the first quarter when he drew two early fouls on Detroit’s Ausar Thompson, the defensive stopper the Pistons are using to hound Brunson all game. But it quickly became unpalatable to the officiating crew that turned a blind eye to the marginal contact.

In the second half, Brunson put his head down and attacked the basket. The Knicks will need more of that in Game 2 after the Pistons make the adjustments needed after their Game 1 loss.

“You can play him on the ball, off the ball. You can use him as a playmaker, as a scorer. You can play him in the post, you can play him in pick and roll, you can play him in catch and shoot,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He scores in three different levels. There’s a lot of different things that puts a lot of pressure on the defense, and he creates easy offense for people.”