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10/27 23:58 CDT Knicks get their first win and look like the team of last
spring, not the last week
Knicks get their first win and look like the team of last spring, not the last
week
By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- These looked like the New York Knicks of last spring, not the
last week.
Down by 13 points after one quarter, they outscored the Detroit Pistons 63-25
across the next two, putting the kind of crooked numbers on the scoreboard they
did repeatedly during their march to the NBA championship.
They beat the previously undefeated Pistons 111-97 on Tuesday night for their
first victory after starting the season with three straight losses.
"We had more good moments in this game in totality than we did the first three
games and that's why we got the win," coach Mike Brown said.
The Knicks opened the season with as many losses in three games as they had in
19 games during the playoffs. They went 16-3 and set a record for the largest
point differential by a team in a postseason.
They returned this season with losses to Philadelphia, Boston and Orlando, and
with another loss Tuesday would have joined the 1969-70 Celtics as the only
reigning champions to lose their first four games.
That came after Hall of Fame center Bill Russell retired after the Celtics' run
of 11 titles in 13 years. These Knicks have their entire starting five back,
led by NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and fellow All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, but
hadn't been delivering.
The Pistons, who handled the Knicks easily in all three regular-season meetings
in 2025-26, jumped out to a 38-25 lead before New York limited them to 12
points in the second quarter.
"I thought we did a great job, like I said, picking up the physicality, a lot
of energy in the game, looking more like ourselves from last year," Towns said.
"But we still have a lot of growing to do and tomorrow's another day for us to
test ourselves and get better."
Towns finished with 27 points and 20 rebounds, but the Knicks didn't truly find
their rhythm until Brunson began to break out of his early-season slump. He
came into the game shooting 39% from the field and then was just 1 for 9 in the
first half, but made his first three shots in the third quarter to start an
11-0 run that turned a one-point halftime lead into a 62-50 advantage.
"I was just trying to do things to help my team and things will turn
eventually," Brunson said.
He still was only 5 for 18 but finished with 23 points and seven assists. Mikal
Bridges, who averaged 3.3 points and missed all 10 3-pointers in the first
three games, was 4 for 8 behind the arc and scored 12 points.
The Knicks entered the day last in the league with 101.7 points per game, but
Brown was more concerned that they also ranked at the bottom in pace and needed
to play faster. Defending better to create more opportunities in transition
helped with that Tuesday.
New York goes to Chicago on Wednesday to complete a back-to-back. Brown
cautioned that the Knicks will have hiccups throughout the long season as they
aim to have their game peak in the playoffs like they did last season.
"So is it fixed? No, it ain't fixed. Nothing's really fixed," Brown said. "What
tonight shows us is we're more than capable if we put our minds to it, and
that's what we've got to continue to try to build off."
___
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