Knicks need more than Jalen Brunson (i.e. KAT) to battle Pistons

The New York Knicks will need more offensive support for Jalen Brunson if they hope to regain home-court advantage when they visit the Detroit Pistons on Thursday for Game 3 in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

The Pistons evened the series in Monday’s 100-94 Game 2 win by targeting Brunson and capitalizing on Karl-Anthony Towns’ off-game.

After scoring 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting in Game 1, Towns had only 10 points Monday and took just three shots in the second half — none in the fourth quarter.

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said that he’s not overly concerned with Towns’ lack of offense in the second half.

“If they’re going to commit to two or three people on him, I don’t want him forcing shots,” Thibodeau said Wednesday. “But there’s things that he can do and we can do to get him a second and third look, so that’s what we have to try to do. There (are) ways in transition that we can search him out as well.”

Brunson, who finished with a game-high 37 points and took one-third of the team’s 81 field-goal attempts, said after Game 2 that he needs to do a better job of getting his teammates more involved. The Knicks had just 15 assists, their lowest total this season.

Thibodeau said the focus the last two days has been rebounding. Detroit owned a 48-34 edge on the boards — including 12 offensive rebounds that led to 13 second-chance points.

“We’ve got to make a commitment to get it done,” he said. “So each game teaches you something. You’ve got to learn from it and make corrections.”

Towns, who had only six rebounds in 33 minutes Monday, said the team will be focused on that Thursday.

“I’ve watched the tape (of Game 2) myself, and we’ve had two days to fix it and get ourselves right mentally and physically for (Thursday),” Towns said.

One concern that Thibodeau raised following the loss was the perception of officiating calls favoring the Pistons. Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff has a different opinion.

“We’re happy with the way the games are being called,” Bickerstaff said Wednesday. “We can survive physicality. So we’ve got no issue with it. When you look at a comparison of the guys who are handling the ball a majority of the time, their guy (Brunson) is leading the league in free-throw attempts. Cade (Cunningham) is ninth at this point.”

Bickerstaff was asked whether he thought officials were being more lenient in the playoffs.

“If I tell you the true answer to that, I’d get in trouble,” he said. “But, no, there’s a level of physicality that the playoffs bring and there’s always been that. Again, it’s the teams that can survive it that are going to end up winning in the end, and I think our guys have done a great job of maintaining their composure. We haven’t changed how we play.”

Now that the Pistons have ended their streak of 15 playoff losses, Detroit seeks to win back-to-back playoff games for the first time since Games 4 and 5 in the 2008 Eastern Conference semifinals against Orlando.

Bickerstaff said they may again be without Isaiah Stewart, who is day-to-day due to knee inflammation.

The Pistons, who blew an eight-point fourth-quarter lead in their Game 1 loss Saturday, were successful in staving off another late comeback during Game 2. With the Knicks doing everything they could to keep Cunningham away from the ball, they backed off Dennis Schroder. He hit an open 3-pointer from 25 feet out with 55 seconds left to put Detroit in front for good.

Cunningham finished with 33 points and Jalen Duren, forced to play extra minutes with Stewart out, had 12 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, three blocks and a steal.

Duren said the goal Thursday will be to continue to wear down and frustrate the Knicks.

“That’s the goal to continuously do what we do, play Pistons basketball,” he said. “And that’s playing hard as hell every night. Being physical, being scrappy, playing with a sense of urgency and grit.”

–Field Level Media