The No. 3 seed New York Knicks were slow out of the gate, which cost them a 100-94 loss to the No. 6 Detroit Pistons in Game 2 in front of 19,812 fans at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. The series is tied at 1-1 before Thursday night’s matchup in Detroit.
The Pistons took a 25-18 lead in the first quarter and never looked back behind the hot shooting of Cade Cunningham, who went 12-of-21 shooting for 33 points to lead Detroit in scoring. Despite Jalen Brunson’s being the game’s leading scorer with 37 points, the Knicks offense looked chippy.
Jalen Brunson feels he could have done more
Following the loss, Brunson told reporters that he could have done more to keep the Pistons from stealing a game in New York.
“I feel like I’m getting in spots and missing shots that I normally make,” Brunson said via James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. “And I feel like it could be a lot better. And I hold myself to a higher standard than that. And I just have to put my team in position to win. And all the other stuff doesn’t matter.
“The stats, when it comes to a loss, it doesn’t matter at all. I just got to help my team and put them in position to win, and tonight I didn’t do that.”
Brunson finished 12-of-27 shooting, but his main defect on Monday night was turning the ball over. Brunson turned the ball over six times.
Josh Hart thinks the Knicks were “too slow”
Josh Hart, who finished with 10 points on 2-of-6 shooting, blamed the Knicks’ slow pace of play for their offensive troubles. New York made just 42% of their field goal attempts and shot just 28.6% from beyond the three-point line.
“It derives from us playing slower,” Josh Hart said. “When we play fast, it’s tough for teams to keep up. We got a lot of weapons out there. When you’re playing fast, you cause the defense to make mistakes. When you’re playing stagnant, it’s tougher for them to make mistakes, it’s tougher to attack the basket. We just played a little too slow.
“The thing about the playoffs, it’s never easy. We just have to watch film, learn and grow from it.”
Following the loss on their home court, the Knicks don’t have much room for error the rest of the way in this series. The Pistons have proven to be the pesky and hardworking team they showed in the regular season. New York must be on the attack when the series shifts to Detroit.
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