Karl-Anthony Towns and the Knicks bounce back to beat Pistons and take 2-1 lead in 1st-round series

DETROIT (AP) — The New York Knicks left no doubt about their plan for Game 3 in the opening minutes against the Detroit Pistons.

Karl-Anthony Towns took his team’s first shot, made his first of four 3-pointers and scored five points in the opening minutes to start an 11-point quarter — more than he had in all of Game 2.

He finished with 31 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots to lead the Knicks to a 118-116 victory that gave them a 2-1 lead in the first-round series on Thursday night.

“He set the tone offensively for us, and defensively as well,” All-Star guard Jalen Brunson said. “That’s the KAT we know.”

Brunson scored 12 in the fourth quarter to finish with 30 points. But it was Towns’ fast start that helped New York play from ahead for most of the night.

“I just got opportunities to do things on the offensive end,” he said. “We found a way in transition to get me some good looks, and I was able to capitalize of off that to start the night off.”

If Detroit does not win Game 4 on Sunday, it might have a lot of nights off this spring.

Towns was coming off a 10-point performance in Game 2, which was one of the reasons the Pistons won in New York to even the series.

“He’s unfazed,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He’s been around. He’s got a lot of confidence. He bounced back. He can score a lot of different ways and he used his versatility to his strength.”

Detroit tried to slow the 7-foot center down with Jalen Duren, Tobias Harris and others without much success.

“We knew he was going to be aggressive and that’s how he came out,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.

Towns played the way the Knicks hoped he would in the playoffs after acquiring him last October from Minnesota in a three-team trade.

His toughness, physical and mental, was also an asset against the ready-to-rumble Pistons.

In the final minute of the quarter, New York’s Mitchell Robinson and Detroit’s Paul Reed were engaged with each other and Towns intervened and pushed Reed, who had to be held back from retaliating.

“We just came to fight and give ourselves the best chance to win,” Towns said. “We had to match their physicality, so I thought we did a good job of that.”

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