The championship hangover is over. After the New York Knicks slumped to an 0-3 start and the second-worst offensive rating in the NBA, there was a lot of chatter about whether the team had spent too much time celebrating last season's victory. They had already lost to the 76ers, Magic, and Celtics, and the Pistons were coming to town to make it four Eastern Conference foes to topple the champs. Only, the Knicks weren’t buying that narrative, shaking off a slow start en route to a dominant 111-97 win over the Pistons.
Coming into Tuesday’s showdown at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks had struggled against the Pistons in their recent contests. Detroit swept New York in the 2025-26 regular season by an average margin of 28 points, and had won five straight regular-season meetings. When Detroit built a 13-point first quarter lead, it seemed like the trend was continuing. The Pistons scored 38 points in the quarter on 14 of 23 from the field (60.9%) and 4-of-10 from beyond the arc. Cade Cunningham, who has enjoyed plenty of success against the Knicks, got off to a fast start, scoring nine points with six assists and four rebounds in the first quarter.
Then the game changed in a heartbeat. The Knicks tightened up defensively, holding the Pistons to just 12 second-quarter points to take a 51-50 lead at the half. The Pistons would never lead again as the Knicks built their advantage to 25 points by the end of the third quarter. Some sloppy play from the Knicks in the fourth allowed the Pistons to get the game within 11 points, but they would never cut it to single digits.
Cunningham, who averaged 27.3 points, 11 assists, and 5.3 rebounds last year in the regular season versus the Knicks, finished with a strong performance for the Pistons, scoring 19 points, while chipping in nine rebounds and eight assists. Paul Reed, who has been filling in for the injured Jalen Duren, led the team with 22 points while also securing nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Ausar Thompson, who returned from injury, finished with 11 points and six rebounds before fouling out.
The Knicks were led by 27 points from Karl-Anthony Towns, who added 20 rebounds and three assists but also seven turnovers. Jalen Brunson also chipped in 23 points and seven assists but continued his struggles from the field, hitting just 5-of-18 shots from the field and 0-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Brunson came into the day shooting 39% from the field and 26.7% from beyond the arc. For his career, he shoots 48.4% from the field and 38.4% from deep. He’s also shooting 70% from the free throw line, which is down from a career 82.5% mark. The Knicks didn’t need his shooting to win on Tuesday, but they’ll need their captain to break out of his slump at some point in the near future.
Knicks Used Defense to Fuel Their Offense
The biggest turning point in the game came in the second quarter with the Knicks’ defensive adjustments.
After the Pistons scored 38 points in the first quarter, the Knicks cleaned up how they were switching and attacking on the screens. Not only did the Knicks limit the easy looks in the paint, but they started to force more turnovers on the wings. After the Pistons only turned the ball over twice in the first quarter, they had six in the second quarter and finished the game with 18 turnovers.
Playing good defense hasn’t been an issue for the Knicks, who came into this game 12th in defensive rating. The issue has been finishing the game.
“If you look at our second-half defense, the last game was the fourth quarter. I think the two games before that, Philly and Boston, were the third quarter; we were really bad,” said Knicks head coach Mike Brown before the game. “We’re ranked like 117 or something [in the second half], which would be 25th or 26th last year.”
While the Knicks got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter and let the Pistons go on a little run, their defense never fully surrendered. Instead of collapsing, the Knicks used their defense to clean up another issue they’ve been having early in the season: a slow pace of play.
“Our pace has to be better,” said Coach Brown. “Right now, I think we're 29th in the NBA in Pace, and I don't know if we ever were 29th at any point in time last year or years before that. For us to be 29th in the NBA in pace, that's not good enough.”
The Knicks actually came into this game 30th in pace after finishing 25th last season but 9th of 16 teams in the postseason last year. This season, coming into Tuesday’s game, 17% of their possessions were in transition, which was 18th-best in the NBA. Last season, 18.2% of their possessions were in transition, which was 16th. However, the Knicks were 7th in the NBA in points per possession in transition last year at 1.17. This season, they are 21st at 1.03 PPP, so it’s not that they are getting far fewer transition opportunities, but they are playing a bit slower and are far less effective in transition.
That wasn’t the case on Tuesday. After the Pistons opened the game with five fastbreak points in the first quarter to zero for the Knicks, New York used their defensive intensity to create fastbreak chances. By the end of the third quarter, when they had built an 82-61 lead, New York had 10 fastbreak points, while the Pistons still had five.
Knicks Interior Offense Has Been Struggling
Shooting has been a problem overall for the Knicks this season, but while some of their three-point shooting woes could be natural small sample variance, their issues in the paint were potentially more impactful.
The Knicks were not a dominant team in the paint during the 2025-26 regular season, but during their postseason run to an NBA title, the Knicks led all teams in scoring inside the paint, averaging 54.4 points per game. Much of that came off cuts and second-chance points with Towns operating as the hub of the offense on the perimeter. That level of success had not carried over this season.
Last season, the Knicks shot 65.8% from the restricted area during the season. This year, it’s been 61.9%. Short-range shots outside of the restricted area have been worse. That range of shots in the paint, usually floaters and short pull-ups, was an area of strength for the Knicks last season, at 45.2%. This season, they came into Monday shooting just 26.7% in the paint outside of the restricted area. That means their overall field goal percentage in the paint had dropped from about 58% to 49.6%.
A big part of that could be connected to Brunson’s struggles this season. We know Brunson has had tremendous success on his floaters and push shots, but his success rate has been far worse to start this season, as mentioned above.
Another issue that’s likely just small sample-size noise is how frequently the Knicks are getting blocked as a team this season. Last year, the Knicks were blocked 4.3 times per game. This year, it was 6.7 per game coming into Tuesday's game. If you take out the 76ers game where they were blocked 10 times, they’re still averaging 5 blocks per game, and the Knicks were blocked 11 times again on Tuesday.
Pistons Improved 3-point Shooting Goes Cold
One of the biggest stories coming into the game was the Pistons' improved shooting from beyond the arc. Detroit came into the game 3rd in the NBA in three-point shooting at 42% on 37.3 attempts per game. Last year, they were 17th in the NBA in three-point shooting at 35.6% on 30.9 attempts per game. Through three games, 39.7% of Detroit’s points had come off threes, which was 4th-most in the NBA. Last season, 28% of their points came on threes, which was 29th in the NBA, so it’s a major difference.
The threes the Pistons were getting were also based mostly on pace and ball movement. Just under 30 of the Pistons’ 37.3 attempts per game from beyond the arc are catch-and-shoot threes. That’s the 7th most in the league. Last season, just 22.5 of their 31 attempts per game were on catch-and-shoot threes, among the bottom third in the league.
A big part of that increase has been Coach J.B. Bickerstaff changing how he uses sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, using him more as an on-ball screener to free him up to get open looks when defenders help on the screen.
Using Duncan as a screener “just puts defenses in tough decisions,” explained Bickerstaff. “Especially when you get him in some of those rip screens for John [Collins], who has the lob threat ability. Do you want to switch a smaller guy onto him? Do you have to bump him? Then Duncan's so intelligent. He does a great job of reading those screens and what the defenders do, and he's a step ahead of them. He knows when to slip out, he knows when to set it, he knows what route to take to get to the next screen quicker. So all those things just make it easier for him to create those opportunities and put defenses in tough situations.”
Duncan Robinson came into the game averaging 19.7 points, 2.3 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. Robinson hit 15 threes in the first three games of the season, and his 53.6% mark from three is the highest mark of any player in the NBA who has made at least 10 3-pointers entering Monday.
The Knicks were aware of that too.: “You gotta give it up to a guy like Duncan Robinson,” said Coach Brown before the game. “Duncan is shooting the mess out of the ball right now, and they do a lot of actions for him. And his pace is really good, so we’ve got to make sure we do a job on him at the start of actions.”
The Knicks were not only aware of it, but they seemed to gameplan for it.
In the first half, Robinson was 0-8 from the field, including 0-6 from three. He would finish the game just 4-of-14 from the field and 2-for-10 from three. The Pistons as a team hit just 9-of-37 (24%) from beyond the arc. It's too early to write off Detroit's early success from beyond the arc as a fluke, but much of Robinson's success had been attributed to his stated confidence with his shot and confidence in the flow of the offense. The hope is that Tuesday's poor showing doesn't impact that confidence.
The Knicks will head on the road to take on the Bulls next, while the Pistons head home to take on the Hornets before going back to New York to face the Nets later this week.
