DETROIT – The Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks put up a dog fight in the pivotal Game 3 matchup inside Little Caesars Arena, but Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, and the crew were able to regain home-court advantage in a 118-116 victory.
In NBA playoff history, the team that has won Game 3 of a best-of-seven series tied at 1-1 has gone on to win the series over 70% of the time, with a record of 199-69.
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Towns led both teams in scoring, shooting 10/18 from the field and 7/7 from the charity stripe for 31 points. Brunson scored 30 points, Anunoby 22, and Mikal Bridges added 20 points in the victory.
For the Pistons, Cade Cunningham had a near triple-double finishing with 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Tim Hardaway Jr. broke his scoring slump while dropping 24 points after shooting 7/12 from deep.
Jalen Duren dropped 16 points while grabbing eight rebounds, while Dennis Schröder added 18 points in the defeat.
1st quarter
The Pistons crowd was electric at the beginning of the game, and announcer John Mason’s retro introduction gave the crowd goosebumps.
Detroit came out overexcited but couldn’t find a bucket. They went 0-7 from the field and trailed 8-1. Their only point came off an Ausar Thompson split at the charity stripe.
For the Knicks, Mikal Bridges got the ball rolling as he knocked down a three-pointer to take a 3-0 lead.
Towns followed with a personal 5-0 run as the Pistons took an early timeout to gather their breath as they trailed 8-1 with 9:23 to play in the first.
Former Michigan Wolverines star Hardaway Jr. knocked down a wide-open three-pointer to break the 0-7 start to the game.
Hardaway Jr. knocked down another three-pointer before getting slapped in the face by Jalen Brunson, which led to expletive chants from the raucous crowd.
Brunson was assessed a flagrant foul one, and Hardaway Jr. knocked down all three free throws.
He followed that up with another three-pointer to get the crowd back into the game.
After going scoreless in Game 2, Hardaway Jr. went 3-3 from beyond the arc and knocked down all three free throws to lead both sides with 12 points.
Cunningham got grooving with nine points as he and Hardaway Jr. scored 21 of the teams first quarter 27 points.
But OG Anunoby (10 points) and Karl-Anthony Towns (11 points) scored 21 of the Knicks’ 33 points with contributions from Brunson (5 points) Josh Hart (4 points) and Bridges (3 points) to take a 33-27 lead to end the first quarter.
2nd quarter
Schröder finished the first quarter with five points off the bench, but opened the second quarter with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 33-30.
Tobias Harris fouled Towns on a jump shot at the 10:04 mark in the second quarter, leading to an unsuccessful challenge.
Harris went on to collect his third foul of the game and was forced to go to the bench.
Cunningham came in and knocked down a jumper, but Hardaway Jr. knocked down back-to-back three-pointers as the Pistons took their first lead of the game at 40-39.
They got up 43-39 as Hardaway Jr. was rolling in the first half.
Pistons were on an 8-0 run until Towns knocked down an easy bunny at the rim.
Schröder floater extends the lead to 45-41 until Brunson knocked down two free throws thanks to an ill-advised foul by Holland II, who redeemed himself with two free throws to push the lead to 47-43.
Towns attacks the rim for his 17th point of the half. Anunoby knocked down another three-pointer, followed by Cunningham picking up his second foul of the game.
Bridges helped the Knicks go on a 7-0 run to take a 50-47 lead, causing Bickerstaff to burn a timeout with 3:42 to play in the first half.
Cunningham stopped the bleeding with a contested layup at the rim to cut the deficit to one.
He had 13 points with three rebounds and three assists with 2:56 to play.
Hardaway had a turnover that led to an Anunoby bucket.
Brunson got fouled, sending him to the line for his ninth point of the game before picking up his third foul of the game. It was overturned after a coach’s challenge.
Brunson got fouled but made both free throws to extend the Knicks’ 12-2 run and take a 56-50 lead.
Anunoby tripled for his 18th point of the game as his Knicks went up 59-50.
Bridges stole the rock from Cunningham and made a rim-run, followed by a three-pointer to extend their lead to 64-50.
Malik Beasley finally got on the board with a three-pointer, but Brunson ended the half with a floater, and the Knicks took a 66-53 lead.
The 13-point lead was partly due to the Knicks’ 23-6 run as the Pistons suddenly went cold.
The first half was filled with runs, as the Pistons went on a 9-0 run in the first quarter, followed by an 8-0 run by the Knicks in the first quarter.
The Pistons went on a 7-0 run in the first quarter, but the Knicks went on a 5-0 run in the first quarter to keep them close.
Detroit went on an 8-0 run in the second quarter, but New York went on that 23-6 run to end the half to quiet the high-pitched crowd inside Little Caesars Arena.
Although Schroder and Hardaway Jr. have combined to score 31 points, Detroit needs Harris, Beasley, and Duren to get back into the game, as all three players have combined for seven first-half points.
They had three field goals and three free throws to end the half.
3rd quarter
Duren did just that as he scored on a rim run to open the third quarter to cut the deficit to 11, but Towns attacked the rim on the other end to extend the lead back to 13.
Cunningham stayed aggressive with a tough contested layup, followed by another Hardaway Jr. three-pointer, leading to a timeout by the Knicks.
Hardaway Jr. made his sixth three-pointer of the game as Detroit went on a 7-2 run to open the quarter.
Duren scored a quick six points, followed by a three-point play from Thompson to get back into the game.
But Towns continued to be a man amongst boys in Game 3. He had 22 points, while Anunoby chipped in with 20 with 5:15 to play in the quarter. They led Detroit 75-73.
Towns hit another trailer three-pointer to extend the lead to five as the Pistons went on a 22-12 run to get back into the game.
Bridges drew a three-point play on Hardaway Jr. to take an 81-75 lead with 3:39 to play before Duren picked up his fourth foul on a Brunson made jumper filled by a made free-throw to extend the lead to nine.
Reed went to the line, splitting the pair, but Anunoby knocked down another jumper before Beasley hit two free throws to cut the deficit to six.
Holland II got to the free throw line to cut the deficit to six, but Brunson, before picking up his fourth foul of the game got a goal tending call to extend the lead back to eight.
Holland II knocked down two more free throws to cut into the 88-82 deficit with under one minute to play.
With under five seconds remaining on the shot clock, Brunson got an easy assist to Miles McBride for a wide-open three-pointer.
To add insult to injury, Hart got a put back layup to extend the Knick lead to 93-83 to end the quarter.
4th quarter
The Knicks and Pistons traded blows in the first 4:04 seconds of the quarter, and the deficit jumped to 99-91.
But with under seven minutes to play, the Pistons had 13 turnovers to the Knicks’ nine, and Bridges knocked down another three-pointer to push the lead to 11.
Towns knocked down a baselin floater but Cunningham hit a big time three pointer to cut the lead to 104-96.
After defensive stop, Schrouder hit a clutch three pointer to bring the deficit to five with under five to play.
After being quiet all night, Harris hit a 16-foot jumper with 4:41 to play as the Knicks called a timeout
The Pistons went on an 8-0 run to trail 104-101, and the fans, including NBA champions Ben Wallace and Richard Hamilton, got back into the game.
Trailing 106-101, Duren lost a jump ball to Brunson which led to a Towns nasty jumper.
Duren came with a put-back jam, followed by a tough Cunningham lay-up, which brought deficit to six, but Brunson put the team on his back in winning time with back to back lay-ups to go up 112-105 with 59 seconds remaining.
With hope remaining, Beasley drained a three-pointer to cut into the 112-108 lead.
Towns went back to the free-throw line up four with 34.9 remaining and made both to take a six-point lead.
Duren jammed it home to bring the deficit down to four with 23.4 seconds left but Brunson went to the line and knocked down both free-throws to boost the lead back to six.
Hardaway Jr. hit a three-pointer with 5.8 remaining forcing the Knicks the call a timeout.
Brunson went over and back, but the refs didn’t call, leading to a split at the line, which took the score to 117-113.
Harris hit a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining, but Brunson got fouled with 0.05 seconds remaining on purpose on the second attempt, taking a 118-116 victory after a clock malfunction.
Game 4 will tip-off back inside LCA on Sunday (April 27) at 1 p.m.
