Knicks advance to second round of playoffs after beating Pistons, 116-113, in Game 6

In a game that featured swing after swing, the Knicks used an 11-1 run at the end of the game to come back and beat the Detroit Pistons, 116-113, in Game 6 to advance to the second round.

Here are the takeaways…

-It was as perfect of a first quarter as New York could’ve asked for, outscoring the Pistons, 37-23, while shooting 60 percent from the field, 40 percent from deep and 100 percent from the free-throw line with just one turnover.

–Jalen Brunson, on the heels of an off shooting night in Game 5 where he went 4-for-16, set the tone early and got off to a much better start and went 7-for-9 from the floor with 15 points. He also got involved in the passing game, and with his teammates just as hot, the point guard had four assists in the first 12 minutes.

-A 14-2 run by the Knicks in the middle of the quarter, punctuated by OG Anunoby‘s three-pointer, put them up 23-10 with 5:48 left in the frame. Anunoby had eight first-quarter points while Mikal Bridges also scored eight.

-Detroit’s defense started out shaky, which allowed New York to hit six consecutive shots, and its offense wasn’t up to par either with Cade Cunningham leading the team with nine. Tobias Harris, the only other Piston to make more than one shot in the quarter, had five while the entire team shot 38.1 percent from the field and just 20 percent from three-point range.

-But what a reversal it was in the second quarter.

-Leading the charge for Detroit was Malik Beasley off the bench, who was unconscious from deep. After going 1-for-3 from beyond the arc in the first quarter, Beasley went 5-for-8 in the second, including a contested 27-footer as time expired in the half that brought the Pistons all the way back and gave them a two-point lead.

-That’s right, the 14-point lead the Knicks had built in the first was completely erased in the second thanks to poor shooting by New York, which included a stretch that saw the team miss six straight shots, and the Pistons finding their footing after taking a punch earlier in the game to outscore their opponent 38-22.

-After his unbelievable first quarter, Brunson only managed five points in the second and the Knicks got nothing from their bench. Also quiet was Josh Hart, who picked up two quick fouls. He went into the locker room with three fouls, four points, four rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes.

-Speaking of Hart, following the Game 5 loss at home where New York was outscored 28-24 in the third and lost its lead — as had happened in Game 4 — Hart spoke about needing to find a way to come out of halftime with more energy and aggressiveness. That’s exactly what he and the team did on Thursday.

-Led by Brunson, who scored another 10 points to reach the 30-point mark for the fifth time in the series, the Knicks punched right back and outscored Detroit by 13 points to head to the fourth quarter with a 96-85 lead.

-Bridges and Anunoby gave Brunson some much-needed help offensively while Karl-Anthony Towns was a menace on the glass. Even Hart stepped it up and became a scoring threat while providing his usual contributions elsewhere on the court.

-New York also held the sharpshooting Beasley in check in the third, allowing him to score just two points on two free throws.

-But the Pistons just wouldn’t go away. Despite Cunningham missing all eight of his shots from deep, he was still able to come up big when his team needed him. Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson also deserve credit for helping Detroit claw its way back in the final frame in a game that featured wild swings quarter to quarter.

-Still, for as good as the Knicks played in the third quarter, they played just as badly in the fourth and let the game slip away. That is, until an 8-1 run in the final minute tied the game at 113-113. Before that, turnovers killed them and their offense went blank as the Brunson well went dry.

But when it mattered the most, Brunson stepped up and saved the day, hitting a three-pointer with 4.3 seconds left that gave him 40 points on the night and New York the lead that it would not relinquish.

Game MVP: Jalen Brunson

The point guard went for 40, and after a tough shooting night from long range, he won the game with a three-pointer in the final seconds of the game.

Highlights

What’s next

The Knicks advanced to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and will take on the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics. After a few days of rest, they will resume action on Monday night for Game 1 at TD Garden. Tip-off is TBD.

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