3 takeaways from Knicks' Game 3 victory over Pistons
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates with teammates during the first half of Game 3 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Detroit Pistons, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Detroit. Credit: AP/Duane Burleson
1. Jalen Brunson can't be rattled
Let’s be clear about this: the entire Little Caesars Arena chanting profanities in unison is not going to deter Jalen Brunson. The pushing and shoving and grabbing is not going to rattle Jalen Brunson. But give the crowd and the Pistons credit — they really went all-in. It began with boos every time Brunson touched the ball and quickly escalated to, “[Expletive] you, Brunson.”
The Knicks and Brunson shrugged it off.
“To Jalen, those are cheers,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He lives for that stuff.”
Brunson said, “Do I think it’s cheers? Uh, no. But it’s just another way to get me focused and stay composed and stay poised. Just another obstacle and knowing my teammates have my back, it’s nothing.”
And with 30 points — including 12 in the fourth quarter — and nine assists, he seemed correct.
2. Towns, others more involved
After three days of talk about Brunson trying to do too much and not getting his teammates — particularly Karl-Anthony Towns — involved enough in the offense, the Knicks responded by having four players with at least 20 points. Towns led the way with 31. Josh Hart, the fifth starter, had just six points, but added nine assists and 11 rebounds. Towns was one of the first to get going, scoring 11 points in the first quarter and he kept it going by getting shots off quickly as the Knicks raced the ball up in transition and often found him trailing for three-point field goals.
“We found a way in transition to get me some good looks and I was able to capitalize on that and it started the night off,” said Towns, who was 4-for-8 on three-pointers. “So shoutout to Cap [Brunson], Josh, they found me in the flow of the offense and I was able to capitalize on those opportunities.”
Thibodeau felt that the Towns criticism after Game 2 was unwarranted, but what happens in the postseason. “I’d say, ‘Welcome to New York.' But I think he has a really good understanding of New York, being from here. So basically he’s unfazed," Thibodeau said. "He’s been around, he’s got a lot of confidence and he bounced back great. He can score a lot of different ways and I thought he used his versatility to his strength and he moved extremely well without the ball.”
3. The Knicks match the Bad Boys in attitude
The Pistons have delivered on their claims of mimicking the Bad Boys era of Detroit basketball, playing a physical and sometimes over-the-borderline style. But in Game 3, in an arena that seemed more suited to a WWE match than an NBA game, the Knicks matched them push for push, shove for shove.
It started with Towns shoving Tim Hardaway Jr. in the opening minutes. Towns, Mitchell Robinson and Paul Reed all got technical fouls and then Cam Payne and Dennis Schroder also were hit with technical fouls. What the Knicks got out of it was a bit of proof that they won’t crumble in the face of the assault. Brunson even was jawing with 6-10, 250-pound center Jalen Duren.
“We came to fight and we wanted to give ourselves the best chance to win and we gotta match their physicality,” Towns said, “So I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”
“Yeah, playoff basketball, and that’s a part of it,” Thibodeau said. “Play with emotion but controlled emotion.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
