Jalen Brunson scored 40 points, including the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left, as the visiting New York Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 116-113 victory over the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 on Thursday.
Mikal Bridges contributed 25 points and OG Anunoby added 22 points as the third-seeded Knicks finished off a 4-2 first-round series win over the sixth-seeded Pistons and moved into the conference semifinals for the third consecutive year. New York will face the Celtics, starting with Game 1 in Boston on Monday.
“It’s all about us poised and having that composure,” Brunson said. “Obviously, we want to have it throughout the game, but it’s most important at the end. We all have each other’s backs, and we all know what we want to do. Just thankful for my teammates and coaches.”
Cade Cunningham had 23 points and Jalen Duren added 21 for the Pistons, who have lost an NBA-record 10 straight home playoff games since 2008. The visiting team won five of the six games in the series. Malik Beasley, who had 18 points in the first half, finished with 20, and he committed a game-ending turnover after Brunson’s clutch shot.
“They made some plays,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Obviously, there were some balls that just didn’t bounce our way. But again, I thought our guys fought their tails off and did everything they could do to put themselves in position to win the game.”
The Knicks appeared to break the game open in the third quarter as Bridges’ dunk pushed the cushion to 86-73. The Pistons struggled on offense, missing 12 of their 18 shots in the quarter, including all seven 3-point attempts.
New York kept a comfortable cushion in the fourth quarter before Detroit tightened its defense and ran off 11 straight points to tie the game at 103 with 6:06 remaining. The Pistons followed by scoring nine of the next 11 points to build a 112-105 lead on a jumper from Tim Hardaway Jr.
Brunson had a three-point play and another basket and Karl-Anthony Towns split a pair of free throws to pull the Knicks within 112-111 with 1:19 left.
After Duren made one of two free throws, Bridges tipped in a rebound with 35.6 seconds left to tie the game at 113. Cunningham missed an ensuing shot and Brunson got the ball, raced down the court and hit the game-winner from the top of the 3-point arc.
“It really comes from (Brunson’s) preparation and he has a lot of poise under pressure,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He gets a lot of attention. He’s being trapped, and he knows how to move without the ball. He’s obviously very clever with the ball shift. He can get to the spots that he wants to get to, but he also knows how to move without the ball.”
Brunson scored 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the first quarter as the Knicks built a 37-23 lead. The Pistons made only 8 of 20 shots from the floor and committed three turnovers in the period.
After trailing by 15 points in the second quarter, the Pistons capitalized on six straight missed New York shots and used a 9-0 run to tie the game at 49. Cunningham gave Detroit its first lead at 58-57 with his floater with 61 seconds left. Beasley powered the comeback with 15 points in the quarter, all coming on 3-point shots, and his trey as time expired gave Detroit a 61-59 halftime cushion.
–Field Level Media
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