Knicks know they must start fast in Game 3 vs. Pistons to quiet a hungry Detroit crowd starved for a home playoff win
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) drives as Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) defends in the 2nd quarter as the New York Knicks play the Detroit Pistons in Game 2 of the 1st round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on April 21, 2025 Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
GREENBURGH — The Pistons last won a home playoff game on May 26, 2008, led in scoring by Antonio McDyess, who now is 50 years old, in an arena, The Palace of Auburn Hills, that was demolished in 2020.
The Celtics’ leading scorers in that 94-75 loss to Detroit in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals were Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
Current Pistons star Cade Cunningham was 6 years old. Current Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was a Celtics assistant.
In other words, it has been a while.
So fans in Detroit understandably figure to be charged up for the Knicks’ visit on Thursday night for Game 3 of the teams’ first-round playoff series — especially if efforts to keep tickets out of the hands of Knicks fans prove successful.
Too add fuel to a combustible mix, Pistons guard Malik Beasley chipped in with this post on X (formerly Twitter) that read: “they saying that LCA bout to be more lit than the garden.”
“LCA” is Little Caesars Arena, and if the Pistons give fans there enough to cheer about to out-loud Madison Square Garden, the Knicks could be in serious trouble.
The teams split the first two games at the Garden, and other than a 21-0 run that secured Game 1 for the Knicks, they have not looked like the No. 3 seed and the heavy favorite that they are against the scrappy, nothing-to-lose Pistons.
The first step will be getting off to a good start to dampen the crowd’s spirits.
“I think they’re going to show up for their team,” Karl-Anthony Towns said after practice on Wednesday. “I’ve seen Detroit in the past always show up for their team. So I expect nothing less.”
The next step will be correcting some of the ills that led to a 100-94 loss in Game 2 on Monday night, prominent among them getting Towns going after he totaled 10 points — none coming in the second half.
Getting him the ball would be a good start.
“If they’re going to commit to two and three people on him, I don’t want him forcing shots,” Thibodeau said on Wednesday. “But there’s things that he can do also, and we can do, to get him a second and third look.
“So that’s what we have to try to do. And then I think there’s ways in transition that we can search him out as well.”
Said Towns of what he aims to do: “Just be aggressive, and when I get the chance to make a play. I've been double-teamed, triple-teamed most of my career, so I feel like I could do a pretty good job. I'm pretty comfortable with that situation.”
Another tall task for the Knicks in Game 3 will be doing a better job defending Cunningham after he scored 33 points on Monday.
OG Anunoby, the man primarily charged with defending him, said after Game 2 the Pistons were doing things to create space for Cunningham.
He reiterated that on Wednesday, saying, “They’re playing on different actions now, setting more off-ball screens before he gets to the ball, stuff like that.”
The Knicks could counter with more help for Anunoby and take their chances with other Pistons.
Many Knicks fans were alarmed by what they saw in the first two games, figuring that even if the team survives this series its chances of winning another are slim.
But the Knicks themselves insist their spirit remains strong.
“It’s good,” Towns said. “We’ve got experience in this locker room, so we understand the highs and lows of a playoff series. We're going to go to Detroit and execute at a high level.”
Anunoby said the team’s attitude is “good, positive, for sure. It’s a series . . . It’s on us to respond.”
Even if LCA is as “lit” as Beasley believes it will be, the experienced Knicks do not figure to be intimidated.
“Obviously on the road you deal with the adversity when it comes,” Towns said, “but as a team, as long as you stick together and execute, you feel pretty good about your chances.”
Notes & quotes: Did Thibodeau speak to the NBA about Jalen Brunson not getting as many calls as the Knicks think he should, a hot topic in the aftermath of Game 2? “I’ll keep that private,” the coach said.
Brunson wins Clutch Player of Year
Brunson won the NBA’s clutch player of the year award. Brunson got 70 of the 100 first-place votes. Denver’s Nikola Jokic was second and Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards was third.
Brunson averaged 5.6 points on 51.5% shooting in clutch time this season, with the Knicks going 17-11 in the games he played that met the criteria for the “clutch” designation. Brunson was truly at his best in the final 30 seconds of those clutch games. He shot 11-for-17 (64.7%) in those moments, including 4-for-8 from three-point range. — AP
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
