October 28, 2026 at 5:15 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Towns has 27 and 20 as Knicks rally to hand Pistons their first loss, 111-97

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Detroit led 38-25 after one quarter, then scored 25 points over the next two as Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson led winless New York to its first victory.

The New York Knicks got their first win of the season on Tuesday night, beating the previously unbeaten Detroit Pistons 111-97 at Madison Square Garden after trailing by 13 points after the first quarter.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 20 rebounds, and Jalen Brunson scored 23. The defending champions are now 1-3. Detroit fell to 3-1.

The Pistons scored 38 points in the first quarter. Paul Reed, starting at center with Jalen Duren out, scored 13 of them, and Cade Cunningham had six assists in the quarter. Detroit made three 3-pointers in the final two minutes, the last one by Reed with three seconds left, to go up 38-25.

Over the next two quarters, Detroit scored 25 points. The Knicks' bench helped close the gap in the second quarter. Landry Shamet scored seven points and Andre Drummond four, and New York took its first lead since the first quarter on a Mikal Bridges 3-pointer, 46-45, with 3:47 left. The Pistons scored 12 points in the quarter. Brunson made three free throws in the final 32 seconds, two of them with two seconds left, to give New York a 51-50 halftime lead.

The Knicks then opened the third quarter with 11 straight points. Towns scored on a drive, Brunson scored six points, and Bridges hit a 3-pointer to make it 62-50 less than three minutes in. Towns scored 13 points in the quarter, and New York outscored Detroit 37-13 in it. Josh Hart's 3-pointer at the buzzer made it 88-63.

The lead reached 27 early in the fourth quarter. Detroit cut it to 104-93 with 2:39 left, but Hart answered with another 3-pointer and the Pistons got no closer.

Brunson made only 5 of 18 shots but went 13 for 16 from the free-throw line and had seven assists. Towns made 12 of 21 shots, though he also had seven turnovers. OG Anunoby and Shamet each scored 13, and Bridges had 12. Hart scored six points on two shots and had five steals, and he was +19. New York had 19 offensive rebounds and forced 14 turnovers.

Reed led Detroit with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting and nine rebounds. Cunningham had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists but shot 7 of 18. Duncan Robinson scored 12 on 4-of-14 shooting, and Ausar Thompson, listed as questionable before the game, played 25 minutes and scored 11. The Pistons shot 9 of 37 from 3-point range.

Before the game, Cunningham had answered critics of Detroit's start. "It don't matter," he said, and promised the Pistons would "keep on going." They had opened the season by beating Boston, Miami and Philadelphia.

The Knicks' first three games were losses to Philadelphia, Boston and Orlando.

Sources

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