The New York Knicks held off the Detroit Pistons in the final seconds of Game 4 to claim the 94-93 victory and 3-1 series lead Sunday at Little Caesars Arena.
It was an imperative win for the Knicks, as teams that take a 3-1 series lead advance to the next round 95 percent of the time, per the ABC broadcast.
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“This was a pretty intense game,” Brunson said on the postgame broadcast. “Happy we won.”
The Knicks won and avoided catastrophe in the process. Late in the third quarter, Brunson sustained an injury scare after colliding with Dennis Schröder. Brunson appeared to injure his lower right leg and crawled to the sideline before limping to the locker room. He returned to the bench at the beginning of the fourth quarter and re-entered the game with roughly 10 minutes to play.
“Ankle is all good,” Brunson said on the postgame broadcast.
Brunson finished with 32 points and 11 assists. Karl-Anthony Towns added 27 points and nine rebounds. For Detroit, Cade Cunningham owned the box score with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career playoff triple-double. Tobias Harris added 18 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 14.
The Knicks closed the first quarter with a 10-point lead after limiting the Pistons to zero makes behind the arc. They held the lead throughout the second frame to head into halftime ahead 50-43.
Detroit, however, scored nine straight points in 65 seconds to narrow the once 16-point scoring gap to seven, ending the half on a momentum-swinging 11-2 run.
With 7 1/2 minutes to go in the third, it was a one-point game. By 7:04, the Pistons had a one-point lead. To end the third quarter, they were up six. By the final buzzer, they were staring down a deep series hole.
The Knicks and Pistons return to New York for Game 5 on Tuesday.
KNICKS HANG ON IN WILD ENDING 😱
TAKE 3-1 SERIES LEAD 🗽 pic.twitter.com/V9H4flJmEe
— NBA (@NBA) April 27, 2025
Knicks 94, Pistons 93
(Knicks leads series 3-1)
What else is there to say about Jalen Brunson?
The NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year did it yet again, like he has all season, scoring 15 of his 32 points in the fourth to help New York pull off a comeback win and take the dominating series lead.
After a great start, the Knicks’ offense was abysmal in the middle quarters. No one could make a shot, and New York stopped winning the 50-50 balls. The Pistons found their footing offensively as the Knicks hit a snag. New York led by seven at halftime. The Pistons led by seven at the end of the third.
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In the end, the brilliance of Brunson and Towns, who added eight points in the fourth, was too much for Detroit.
The Knicks’ experience and talent have helped them get a commanding lead in this physical series. Both of those qualities, along with Detroit being a turnover-prone team, made many believe New York was the favorite. The Pistons had 19 turnovers.
Now the Knicks need to finish the series Tuesday in New York, with a chance to get some significant rest before the inevitable second-round series against the Boston Celtics or Orlando Magic. — James Edwards III, New York Knicks beat writer
Detroit couldn’t sustain third-quarter dominance
The Pistons looked like the best version of themselves in the third quarter, but couldn’t sustain that level of play. Detroit outscored New York 28-14 in the frame to enter the fourth with a 71-64 lead before the Knicks outscored the Pistons 30-22 in the fourth.
It was the defense in the third that got the Pistons back into the game, as evidenced by their seven blocks in the quarter, but it simply wasn’t enough. Detroit specifically pestered Towns in the third, and he looked completely flustered. But Towns came alive in the game’s waning minutes, hitting back-to-back triples to give the Knicks a 94-93 edge with 46.6 seconds remaining.
Towns and Brunson proved to be too much for the Pistons down the stretch, combining for 58 of New York’s 94.
With Cunningham’s first playoff triple-double, he joins Hall of Famer Ralph Sampson (1986) as the only players with a 25-point triple-double and four blocks in a playoff matchup.
Detroit is now tasked with winning each of the next three games to keep its season alive. — Hunter Patterson, Detroit Pistons beat writer
(Photo: Chris Schwegler / NBAE via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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