Jalen Brunson overcame a slow start to score 34 points when New York Knicks dominated the fourth quarter in a victory 123-112 over the visiting Detroit Pistons in Game 1 in the Eastern Conference quarter final.
Game 2 will be Monday in New York before the series will be moved to Detroit on Thursday.
Knicks overcame an eight-point deficit by exceeding Pistons 33-14 during the final 9:16. New York grabbed the control with a massive 21-0 driving that extended for almost 4 1/2 minutes and gave the knicks a lead 111-98.
Brunson got eight points in the blast-everything in the color and gave the Knicks lead for good when his difficult 12-foot over Tim Hardaway Jr. with 7:16 left snapped an 18-98 tie.
Brunson started 2-for-13 but met his last two pictures during the first half and finished 12 out of 27 for the match. He also seemed to fine -tune his ankle twice during the last minutes of the third quarter and eventually made a short trip to the dressing room. He helped Knicks Outcore Detroit 40-21 in the fourth.
OG Anunoby added 19 of his 23 points during the first half and Karl Anthony city contributed 13 of his 23 during the second half to go with 11 returns and five assists in total. Reserve Cameron Payne added 14 points, including the binding 3-pointer in New York’s extended driving.
Josh Hart overcame foul problems before half -time and contributed 13 points, seven returns and six assists in total for New York, who shot 70.8 percent during the fourth quarter and 52.7 percent in total.
Tobias Harris led Pistons with 25 points, but Detroit dropped his 15th straight game after seasonal game to game 4 in 2008 Eastern Conference Finals.
Cade Cunningham collected 21 points and 12 assists, but also committed six of Detroit’s 19 turns in his debut after the season after helping pistons to win three of the four regular seasonal meetings with New York.
Malik Beasley finished with 20 and Hardaway contributed 19 when the pistons shot 31.8 percent (7-AV-22) in fourth and 47.7 percent in total.
Harris met a 3-pointer just before half time to get the pistons within 57-55 at the break, and then Detroit dominated the last 5:49 of the third. A basket of the cities forged a 72-72 slip, but Pistons ended the quarter with a 19-11 run and took a lead of 91-83 into the fourth.
-Field level media
