New York Knicks @ Detroit Pistons
Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 7:00 PM ET
Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI | Game ID: 42400123
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
DET 27 26 30 33 116NYK 33 33 27 25 118
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Towns scores 31, Brunson has 30 and Knicks beat Pistons 118-116 for a 2-1 lead in series
DETROIT -- — Karl-Anthony Towns was aggressive early and Jalen Brunson was effective late.
Towns scored 11 of his 31 points in the first quarter and Brunson had 12 of his 30 in the fourth to help the New York Knicks hold on for a 118-116 win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.
“I thought the way we started the game was much better,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “And, we made timely plays down the stretch.”
Game 4 is on Sunday in Detroit.
The Pistons have lost eight straight home playoff games since 2008, pulling within one of an NBA record set by Philadelphia from 1968 to 1971.
When Detroit won at New York in Game 2, the franchise ended a league-record, 15-playoff game losing streak to take home-court advantage, but the Knicks snatched it back.
Brunson, who won the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year award on Wednesday, made consecutive layups late in the game to give the Knicks a seven-point lead.
Brunson made one of two free throws with 3.5 seconds left for a four-point lead after Detroit’s coaches, players and fans were screaming for an over-and-back violation to be called.
“If you catch the ball, have possession and put it down, to me, that’s possession in the front court,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
Brunson made another free throw with 0.5 seconds left and after missing the second intentionally, the Pistons were given the ball in front of their bench after the buzzer sounded prematurely.
“It doesn’t seem right to me," Thibodeau said. “It’s unfortunate. That should never happen in a playoff game.”
Detroit, though, didn't get a final shot off because Jalen Duren 's pass from in front of his team's bench went out of bounds on the other side of the court.
Towns, a 7-foot center, made 4-of-8 3-pointers after combining to shoot 1 of 5 beyond the arc over the first two games.
“He bounced back,” Thibodeau said. "He can score a lot of different ways and he used his versatility to his strength.”
Detroit's Cade Cunningham scored 24 points and had 11 assists, but missed 15 of 25 shots and had six turnovers.
Tim Hardaway Jr . had 24 points, making a career playoff-high seven 3-pointers. Dennis Schroder scored 18 points and Duren had 16 for the Pistons.
OG Anunoby scored 22 points and Mikal Bridges added 20 points for the Knicks.
New York led 33-27 after an emotionally charged opening quarter and was ahead 66-53 at halftime.
The Pistons pulled within one point twice in the third, but the Knicks went on another surge to take a 10-point lead into the final quarter and the cushion was comfortable enough to hold off Detroit's attempts to rally.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
DETAT A. Thompson
CC C. Cunningham
DS D. Schröder
JD J. Duren
MB M. Beasley
PR P. Reed
RH R. Holland II
SC Schroder
TH T. Hardaway Jr.
TH T. Harris
NYKCP C. Payne
JB J. Brunson
JH J. Hart
KT K. Towns
MB M. Bridges
MM M. McBride
MR M. Robinson
OA O. Anunoby
DET/NYK the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur