Jalen Brunson scored 42 points, Julius Randle finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and the New York Knicks recovered after giving up a 16-point lead to hand the visiting Detroit Pistons their 16th consecutive loss 118-112 Thursday.
Detroit came to New York for the second leg of a back-to-back after a 133-107 rout Wednesday to the Los Angeles Lakers. Extending the franchise’s longest single-season skid looked likely in the first half when the Knicks jumped to a 35-19 lead early in the second quarter.
However, the Pistons rallied to score 35 points in less than 10 minutes and forge a 54-54 tie at intermission. Cade Cunningham capped an 18-point first half, part of his team-high 31 points, with a late 3-pointer. Detroit shot 60.9 percent in the second quarter and knocked down 8 of 14 3-point shots (57.1 percent).
The furious second-quarter comeback carried over into a hotly contested second half. Detroit took the lead on a few occasions, while New York’s advantage remained less than five points for much of the half.
Detroit took its final lead with 9:45 remaining in regulation when Ausar Thompson, previously scoreless, made a 3-pointer that put the Pistons ahead 93-91. New York answered with an 8-0 run and Detroit endured a nearly three-minute scoreless drought that gave the Knicks the lead for good.
A 6-1 spurt down the stretch, with Brunson and Randle accounting for all six Knicks points, gave New York a nine-point advantage and sealed the win.
RJ Barrett scored 15 points in the win despite a 1-of-6 shooting performance from 3-point range. Donte DiVincenzo scored all 12 of his points off the bench on 4-of-8 3-point shooting, complementing Brunson’s 7-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. Brunson also dished out eight assists.
Cunningham shot 4 of 9 from 3-point range, while Marcus Sasser added 17 points off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting on 3s. Killian Hayes scored 23 points and Jalen Duren recorded a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
