Steve Popper: Knicks have target on their backs but manage to get first win of season
Knicks' Jalen Brunson looks on during the second half against the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
In another time, another circumstance, the Knicks might have viewed the arrival of the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night as the sort of early-season test to serve as a measuring stick — the opponent a team that manhandled them even in the Knicks championship season and one that arrived with a perfect record.
But the Knicks seemed much more focused on themselves as they readied for the game. It was the 0-3 record they brought into the night, one of just five teams in NBA history to begin a title defense with three straight losses. It was the numbers — ranking dead last in points per game, 29th in field goal percentage and last in pace. And maybe most of all, it was clear to the eye test — things just hadn’t looked like they did when the Knicks finished off a historic postseason run.
So add in a double-digit deficit just to bring back the echoes of the championship run and then mix in a typical hard-nosed Pistons team that had players squaring off and separated by coaches and officials and maybe the Knicks had the wake-up call that they needed. All of the elements suddenly were in place as the Knicks not only got their first win with a 111-97 victory, but did it by looking very much like the championship squad, building a lead of 27 points in the second half and coasting to the win.
First came the defense, limiting Detroit to just 3-for-21 shooting in the second quarter, and then the offense awoke, outscoring Detroit by 37-13 in the third quarter. There was Karl-Anthony Towns and Paul Reed having to be separated. There was hustle for every loose ball and stingy defense.
Mikal Bridges, who scored just 10 points over the first three games and had misfired on all 10 of his attempts beyond the arc, connected on four of them on this night.
And finally, there was a sigh of relief. When Josh Hart buried a three-point field goal to end the third quarter after hustle by OG Anunoby created the opportunity, Hart and the Knicks celebrated like it was the title again..
Some of could be attributed to Detroit’s own shooting woes and the absence of Jalen Duren. Jalen Brunson, who seemed to come up big down the stretch of so many come-from-behind wins last season, but hasn’t been the lifesaver so far this season. And when the last loss was over he simplified the task.
“Find whatever it takes to win,” Brunson said. “Control what we can control. Focus on the little details that might seem small but can impact winning. Most importantly stick together. One thing I’ve said during training camp and to this day is we’re going to see who we are within the first couple weeks of the season. And we’re seeing adversity so how are we going to respond?
“We’re going to get everyone’s best because of last year. Everyone has been telling us what a great job we did, how fun it was, what we did for the city, the constant praise and so we need to be the opposite.”
The experience and maturity of the team would tell you that they will. They returned nearly the entire rotation intact, they discovered the best ways to play together along their postseason path and they certainly know how to respond to any challenge. This one might have ended with 2:49 to play when Ausar Thompson was called for his sixth foul as he hounded Brunson and Brunson delivered a forearm to dismiss him.
But, still, they lost those first three games and did it in a fashion that didn’t indicate that they deserved to win those games.
“We have to concentrate on the next opponent in front of us, and Detroit happens to be that opponent,” Mike Brown said before Tuesday’s game. “And, they had our number last year, you know. It is what it is, that’s kind of how the NBA works.
“I said this before, one of the years we won it when I was in Golden State as an assistant, like we lost the season series to Utah, I don’t know, it was 0-4, 1-3. One game, we got I think, beat by 40. So, you know, I don’t necessarily take a ton of [stock in it].”
You have to squint very hard to look back at the start of last season, before the parades and trophies, when Brown took over and the Knicks were 2-3 after five games and frankly, dysfunctional. Josh Hart was not only coming off the bench, but left to sit out fourth quarters as games got away, and Brown was just learning about the group.
It may have seemed the Knicks were past that with the experience of last season, but Brown said he’s still finding the way with the group this season. He’s still finding fits for his bench pieces and the rotation is still uncertain.
“No, no, no, no. You can always get better,” Brown said when asked if those issues were gone in Year 2 of his tenure.
“…So there’s some things that I’m looking at or messing with that may or may not stay the same. That’s part of what you’re trying to do to figure out what’s best for your team long term. In the short term, it might not turn out good, like it didn’t turn out good not starting Josh, we took our lumps. But it was good to go through it last year. So, it’s something we’ll continue to try to figure out early on.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
