Jalen Brunson scores 12 of his 34 points in the 4th quarter in which the Knicks unleash a 21-0 race to erase a deficit of 8 points.
NEW YORK – The first round series between the New York Knicks and the Pistons de Detroit is one of these experiences in relation to young people, and match 1 followed the script, the juvenile team blowing an advance in the fourth quarter.
The result was a 123-112 victory for the Knicks on Saturday, with Jalen Brunson (34 points, eight assists) and Karl-Anthony Towns (23 points, 11 rebounds and five assists) paved the way.
Here are five points to remember while New York improves at 10-3 at Madison Square Garden in the past three seasons …
1. The pistons melted in the 4th quarter
Gametime is in depth on the nuances that Detroit has missed in match 1, and how the young core of the pistons can learn from the future.
The pistons scored 36 points out of 22 possessions in the third quarter, their third most effective quarter of the season, to take an eight -point lead in the fourth. Although he has a young nucleus, it is not a team that blows late tracks; The pistons had won 40 of their last 41 games which they led by more than five points in the fourth quarter.
But the problems started right away. Detroit had the ball to start the last period … and could not get it when entering. Cameron Payne denied cunningham Cade in the rear area, Cunningham did not come to the ball and no one else reacted in time. The pistons were called to a five -second violation, the first of their eight reversals of the fourth quarter.
The following possession was a 24 -second violation. Two possessions after that, Ausar Thompson missed a rapid and indisputable rupture dunk.
The pistons were still increasing eight after Dennis Schröder exploded by town for a lay-up with just over nine minutes. But the Knicks then carried out a 21-0 race to take total control.
New York marked 10 consecutive possessions. The pistons had the opportunity to match, Jalen Duren injuring the knicks on the glass. But the pistons missed five shots on two possessions in the middle of the race, then a pair of cunningham reversals led to easy baskets on the other side of the ground and put the pistons in a hole from which they could not go out.
The first of these two was a soft inbound pass that cities easily intercepted, leading to a Lay-up by Brunson …
An opportunity to take the match 1 on the road was there, and this was not the case, with the young people of the Pistons youth and the problems of recurring turnover that hurt them in the worst time.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to learn,” said head coach JB Bickerstaff. “They did what they were supposed to do in match 1. Now we have band, we have some experience. We can go back, break it down and be better in match 2.”
The pistons have seen the fifth largest drop in the turnover rate of the league compared to last season, but they have always ranked in the last 10, committing 14.7 for 100 possessions. And their 21 Saturday only marked the sixth time this season that an opponent Knicks has committed more than 20 reversals.
The pistons are responsible for two of these six occasions, the twice (in five meetings) that they lost against New York.
2. Towns, the defense of the Knicks rises in the 4th quarter
The third quarter was not a defensive showcase for cities or knicks. The pistons scored 25 points on their first 13 possessions of the time, a stretch crowned by a room where Cunningham blew to the right near the cities for a dunk. The pistons also closed the period with five consecutive scores to build this eight -point lead.
It was a reminder that in trade for cities last September, the sacrificed defense of the Knicks for an offense.
But the cities have found a way to help their team stop in the fourth, when the pistons only scored 21 points out of 27 possessions. The second of these two consecutive reversals of Cunningham was the second consecutive flight to cities.
He blitzé Cunningham who came out of a screen, kept his hands high and stuffed the pass of Cunningham for the Duren Rolling…
Two possessions later, Towns was able to stay with Tobias Harris Baseline Drive and force a hard blow. He had difficult times, but the defense of the Knicks was better with the cities on the ground on Saturday, and he finished with four interceptions and two blocks, just the 16th time in his career (681 games in total, including qualifying series) that he had at least six interceptions + blocks in a match.
3. Cities take advantage of the gap
The pistons opened the game with the Center de Duren keeping Josh Hart, the Knicks non-shooter. It left Harris to keep Karl-Anthony Towns, who took the smallest Harris to the post early and often.
The pistons did not send a lot of help, perhaps preferring that the Knicks offensive is heavier from cities than Brunson. The strategy did not work anyway.
Harris actually preceded the cities, 22-10, in the first half. But they were not matching on the other side of the ground and the final count (25-23) was almost peer, with cities pulling 10 for 14 (with two free throws) to obtain these 23 points.
He used his size to his advantage, sometimes intimidating Harris on the way to the basket …
And sometimes you just have to hit hard shots in the post. The Knicks scored 17 points 11 times where a city or an isolation of the cities led directly to a shot, a turnover or a trip on the line on Saturday.
4. Thompson’s problem puts other defenders in front of Brunson
As was the case in his two regular season games against the Knicks, Ausar Thompson was the main defender of the pistons on Brunson. But Thompson won two faults in the first three minutes of the match, one in the rear area and the other an offensive fault pulled by Brunson himself.
The 22 -year -old finished with five faults (including three hired in the rear zone) in less than 23 minutes, compromising the defensive game plan of the pistons and leaving Brunson’s assignment to Schröder and Malik Beasley.
Of course, the initial defender is not always the ultimate defender. And in the second half, Brunson targeted Harris, the beating for a few huge buckets during the Knicks 21-0 race.
The Knicks guard pulled only 4 for 15 in the first half, moving in a few Miss. But it was 8 for 12 (and 6 for 8 on the line) in the second period, also placed five assists without reversals.
The two teams made a few efforts to remove the ball from the hands of the opponents’ ball, but the pistons could certainly have done a better work of limitation of Brunson, who has now scored 30 points or more in 12 of his last eliminatory games.
5. Payne gives Knicks an elevator
Just after the Knicks took the lead for good in the fourth quarter, the pistons managed to get the ball out of the hands of Brunson. He had taken a step on Harris in an isolation, but Duren came to help.
Brunson’s outlet was Cam Payne, who was defended by Cunningham. With the pistons who rush defensively, Og Anunoby was wide open under the basket. But Payne went into the “I Got This” mode, draining a 3 -point hard point and not with seven seconds again on the stopwatch.
The success of the playoffs sometimes concerns role players who make big blows. And Saturday, this guy was Payne, who scored 14 points in less than 15 minutes on the bench, pulling 5 for 7, including 3 for 5 points.
The starting program of the Knicks played a 940 -minute summit together this season, but it was not a dominant alignment, exceeding opponents of only 3.3 points by 100 possessions, a brand that was only 18th among 32 alignments that played at least 200 minutes.
The bench was the least used bench in the league, but it was essential for the success of the Knicks. New York was actually at its best (more-9.1 points for 100 possessions) with Payne on the ground.
The flammable guard with the laterally shot will have another opportunity to shine in match 2 Monday (7:30 he, TNT).
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John Schuhmann is analyst of senior statistics for NBA.com. You can send him an email herefind His archives here And Follow him on x.
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