NEW YORK — Throughout the hard-fought first-round series between the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks, star floor general Jalen Brunson has made magic happen in the late stages of games.
Brunson, the league’s Clutch Player of the Year, had keyed his club’s come-from-behind victories in Game 1, Game 3 and Game 4 by averaging better than 13 points per fourth quarter in the series, the highest postseason scoring average in the final period by any NBA player since the play-by-play era began in 1996-97.
All of which made it extremely odd to see Brunson sidelined at the scorer’s table as precious time ticked away near the end of the Knicks’ narrow Game 5 loss, 106-103, at Madison Square Garden.
In holding on late, Detroit thwarted the Knicks’ hopes of ending the series on Tuesday night, and instead drew within a game, 3-2, pushing things back to the Motor City for a Game 6 Thursday night.
The club benefited from a dilemma the Knicks faced regarding how to get two of their starters back into the game after exiting due to injury.
The Pistons, up 95-92 with just under four minutes to go, were on offense when Brunson-trying to guard Detroit star Cade Cunningham-appeared to tweak the right ankle that’s been bothering him at times since returning from a month-long late-season injury absence with it.
The following play, immediately after Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns sent the Garden crowd into a tizzy by hitting a three to knot things at 95, an airborne Josh Hart fell hard on his back and left wrist while defending a Cunningham layup; one that Pistons center Jalen Duren put back for a basket that put Detroit ahead, 97-95.
Both Brunson and Hart were forced to sub out shortly after, with 2:57 left to play. Hart went into the bowels of the arena to get checked out briefly, while Brunson remained on the Knicks’ sideline to give himself a moment to recover.
They each began walking toward the scorer’s table, ready to sub back in, with just under two minutes left, and the Pistons ahead, 101-95. But with the Knicks having just one timeout left — and having already committed enough fouls to send Detroit to the line with any additional ones — coach Tom Thibodeau opted against using either of those strategies to get his two starters back into the contest.
As such, the clock bled for a minute-and-a-half, all the way down to the 27-second mark, with the Pistons up, 103-97.
“It was tough,” Brunson acknowledged, while saying that he still had faith and belief in his teammates regardless of the result.
Thibodeau suggested that he didn’t feel comfortable burning his last timeout that early or sending the Pistons to the line for two free throws at that stage in the game.
“It’s just where we were with the timeouts — it was a coach’s decision,” he said. When pressed on what all he was taking into account as time slipped away, he pointed to a number of considerations. “Time. Score. Penalty. All of the above. There’s a lot that goes into it.”
The defeat left the Knicks without a series-clinching victory at the Garden since the Eastern Conference Finals win at home against the Indiana Pacers in 1999.
To be clear, it wasn’t just the end-of-game ailments and decisions that factored into the Pistons’ victory. They got a massive contribution from second-year forward Ausar Thompson, who’d repeatedly proven to be Detroit’s best defender on Brunson, but has often been too inconsistent offensively — and too foul-prone on defense — to play in late-game, high-leverage moments.
Thompson was far more composed Tuesday, scoring 22 points in just 29 minutes — on just 10 shots — allowing Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff to use him, as opposed to the smaller Dennis Schroder, down the stretch against Brunson.
As such, Brunson had by far his worst game of the series, shooting just 6-for-16 with 16 points. He’d scored 30 points or more in each of the four previous games against Detroit. And, for the first time all series, there was no explosive fourth quarter from the All-NBA performer.
“It all started with Ausar and his defense. He was phenomenal defensively tonight. A lot of credit should be given to him,” Bickerstaff said.
“He’s a great defender, with the way he’s been able to pick up and do all the things [he does],” Brunson said of the second-year Thompson. “Me, personally, and us as a team, we need to figure out how to combat that.”
Cunningham got going late for the Pistons. He finished with a team-high 24 points to go with eight boards and eight assists. Twenty of those points came in the second half, and 13 of them came in the fourth period.
Even with the Knicks’ questionable choice to not burn a timeout or take a foul late to get Brunson and Hart back into the game, New York still had a chance.
Down 103-97, Mikal Bridges hit a three to cut the deficit in half with 25 seconds to play. And following a Schroder free throw to push Detroit’s edge to 104-100, OG Anunoby kept the Knicks alive by hitting another triple to bring New York within one.
The Pistons nearly threw the ball away on the ensuing inbound pass, with Brunson deflecting it. But Detroit recovered the loose ball, and Cunningham drained two free throws to give his club a three-point lead.
The Knicks essentially ran out of steam when Deuce McBride — after being intentionally fouled by the Pistons to deny him the chance of hitting a game-tying three — stumbled at the line by missing his first attempt. He then was forced to miss the second, but the clock expired as New York tried to secure the rebound.
