Three keys for Knicks entering Game 3 against the Pistons
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson driving to the basket while being guarded by the Detroit Pistons’ Dennis Schroder during the fourth quarter in Game 2 of the first round on Monday, April 21, 2025. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Three keys for the Knicks to focus on entering Game 3 of their first-round playoff series:
MOVE THE BALL
This isn’t just about getting Karl-Anthony Towns more shots, although that’s a good starting goal. Towns can’t get just 11 shots with none in the fourth quarter. But it's also about how the Knicks get there that matters most and opens up those shots he gets to be the right ones.
As a team, the Knicks threw less passes than they average in the regular season and while the numbers show Brunson only threw four passes to Towns in Game 1 and nine in Game 2, as long as he’s moving the ball it will get to Towns. The pick and roll combination between the two has ground to a halt with not one shot for Towns out of it in the first two games. However, that may have as much to do with the way the Pistons are defending it, focusing on Towns’ popping to the three-point line more than switching a defender onto Brunson.
So is Brunson scoring 37 a problem? Not at all. It’s just about how they get there. If that means swinging it to an open shooter in the corner and then another pass back to Towns, so be it. And if Towns isn’t given an inch on the perimeter he’s got to do work in the paint against Tobias Harris, who gives away five inches to Towns.
REBOUND THE BALL
It’s hard to imagine that facing the undersized Pistons the Knicks were out rebounded in Game 2. But they were and Towns may have been the culprit on this too. He grabbed just six rebounds in 34 minutes, none on the offensive glass. Mitchell Robinson had seven boards in 20 minutes, four on the offensive glass.
Detroit had 12 offensive boards compared to seven for the Knicks, outscored the Knicks in the paint and in second-chance points. Detroit also outrebounded the Knicks in Game 1, but that one didn’t get noticed since the Knicks outscored them in the paint and put together a 21-0 run to dominate the fourth quarter and take the win.
“You’ve got to match it, exceed physicality, especially in a playoff series,” Towns said. “You’ve got to go out there and play our game, continue to play our game.”
EARN THE FREE THROWS
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau wouldn’t say if he spoke with the league about the free throw discrepancy — and more to the point the difference in the way the game was called for the two teams. Still, for all of the talk about the officiating and the deserved criticism that the Knicks only had 19 free-throw attempts to 34 for Detroit, if the Knicks weren’t going to do work in the paint — outworked on rebounds and not scoring in the paint — they aren’t going to be rewarded. They were outworked on rebounds and outscored 46-40 in the paint.
Towns worked a few times to try to post up Harris, but seemed to uncharacteristically settle for a fadeaway jumper whenever Jalen Duren crept into his view with help defense. The Pistons are one of the most foul-prone teams in the NBA, but the Knicks didn’t make them foul by taking the ball aggressively at them.
“It’s playoff basketball,” Thibodeau said. “You’ve got to understand what playoff basketball is. That doesn’t change your approach.”
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.
