Game 1: Knicks 123, Pistons 112 — Blackjack
Three more to go in the series, fifteen to go on the season
It was only eight days ago when the New York Knicks fell to a shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers team, the last game that could have meant anything in a season that’s carried the weight of seemingly everything behind it. And with it, tides of anguish swept over the fanbase.
Saturday night saw them swept away.
New York put together a 21-0 run in the fourth quarter, resemblant of the stampede that killed Mufasa in The Lion King, to win game one 123-112 and take game one of their series with the Detroit Pistons. In this analogy Cade Cunningham is Simba; best believe he’s going on his own journey of self-discovery between now and tomorrow’s game two. Does that make Cameron Payne Scar? The journeyman point guard did all of the dirty work in this one for the Knicks, scoring 11 of his 14 in the fourth to revitalize his band of brothers and convince them to order one more round before last call. That round proved the knockout, with Payne’s play the best Immanuel Quickley impression we’ve seen to date.
This win changes little to nothing for New York’s overall outlook. Boston is still Boston, and Cleveland is still Cleveland. But playoff games aren’t meant to span time and space. In fact, it’s the opposite: the actual games pass you by in double time while the results sit beside you in the lonely hours in between tip-offs. What’s real today is real until the final buzzer of the next game. For the Knicks, it’s a realization of belonging, a sigh of relief that could fill a hot air balloon, an overwhelming overture that says “Honey, we’re home!” Tonight was the first night in months that New York felt and fought like a team that wants to be here, that wants to win.
Notes
Payne gets top marks if I’m grading the papers. I’d committed a Knicks loss to memory until his game-tying three. His next outing will probably be a goose egg if queen karma rules this realm. Players like him are most fun to watch because of the agony they can exercise in between moments like tonight. Expect disappointment and you won’t be disappointed. Still, I’d wager Payne plays another important role in one of the next three wins for New York. He plays backup quarterback, after all.
Miles McBride wasn’t a no-show for the Knicks playoff opener, but he might as well have Irish exited. Deuce went scoreless on a paltry three shot attempts, two numbers that both need to increase in Game Two. His defense was his standard, with no one on that end loud enough to to be heard over OG Anunoby’s foot-stomping performance. Deuce also tied his postseason career-high with four assists.
New York is home to the best two-way player in the NBA. There’s little else that can be said after Anunoby held Cunningham to 2-of-8 shooting; on a night Detroit’s star shot just 8-for-21 overall, you might as well credit Anunoby for all of it. He rattled Cunningham from the jump, setting the tone and tormenting the 23-year-old in a way not seen since Ramsay Bolton did Reek Theon Greyjoy. Anunoby finished with five steals and two blocks to go with 23 points, 19 in the first half. He kicked the door open on this series. Almost single-handedly.
Jalen Brunson was the other half of tonight’s two-headed tandem, with the most silent 34 points I’ve ever seen, at least until scoring 12 in the fourth quarter on 5-of-7 shooting. I’d already penciled in another disappointing playoff opener for him at halftime, when he was 4-for-15. (Reminder: he shot 16-for-55 in the first two games of the opening round last year. It’s a reasonable concern!) But then in the third he fell on his ankle, changed shoes and reverted to the superstar we know and love.
I wanted Landry Shamet to get real rotation minutes in the playoffs after he shot 49% from three his final 10 games. Tom Thibodeau seemingly obliged, playing Shamet 10 minutes where the sharpshooter went one-for-two, neither attempt from three. That needs to change. Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. harassed the Knicks with a barrage of threes behind the curl. Shamet is more than capable of doing the same.
Karl-Anthony Towns deserves all the flowers for this one. Infamously paraded as soft and undermining, he played defense, of all things, and when it mattered most. His unyielding play in the post was rewarded by the Pistons bigs, a matchup where that kind success has eluded him in the past. Towns stuffed the stat sheet (23/11/5 plus 6 stocks) and the mouths of everyone who’s ragged on him. For now. He can always shoot more threes, and likely will have to, as the series progresses.
Mitchell Robinson did his part, too. It’s so hard to give up on a player who’s suffered so many setbacks when the results are largely like this, time after time when he returns.
Robinson finished the night with 6 points, 6 rebounds and 3 stocks in 18 minutes. Lineups featuring him next to Towns left no doubt of their dominant potential. More, please.
Mikal Bridges was the most underwhelming non-Shamet, scoring just eight points while tallying only nine shots in a game where Brunson was absent for multiple stretches. Bridges has got to be the connector for the rest of these Knicks, as important as the guys making the shots in big moments – if not for now, then a potential second-round series with the Celtics. As fun as the Payne party was, for it to come in the fourth with Bridges sidelined takes a little bit off the top for me. Guys you trade five first-round picks (and Bojan Bogdanović!) for can’t be situational.
Random numbers:
The teams that won the turnover battle in Saturday’s four games won all four. New York scored 25 points off of 19 Detroit turnovers. Not bad for the 14th-ranked defense.
The Knicks are 4-0 when Anunoby records five or more steals, 26-10 when he scores 20 or more and 65-32 when he plays.
Tonight was New York’s first win with Bridges scoring in single-digits since March 2nd (excluding the regular-season finale when he played six seconds).
Brunson took 10 free throws. The rest of the Knicks? Seven. Physicality could prove the litmus test vs. Detroit.
Payne is just the seventh Knick to score 10-plus points off the bench in the fourth quarter of a playoff game. Quickley was the last, two years ago against Cleveland.
It took me until the end of this recap to realize Precious Achiuwa didn’t play. Don’t look for that to change. Achiuwa can help in a lot of matchups; I don’t see a need to break him out of his newfound glass case for this one. Nice job, Thibs.
There will be plenty of time to talk over concerns and questions moving forward. For now, rest easy: the Knicks are up 1-0 after they hit blackjack on Saturday night. And everyone from Detroit to New York knows it.