00:16Dexter Henry here for New York Got Game at Madison Square Garden where the Knicks just won their
00:21first game of the 2026-2027 season. That's right Knicks fans, some of you who were a little bit
00:28worried. You can relax now. The Knicks will not go 0-82. They get their first victory over Detroit
00:33Pistons team. That came into this one unbeaten and they win this one 111-97. Now there is a lot
00:42of good things to like about what the Knicks did in this victory. There are still some things they
00:45need to clean up. It was not a perfect game but they are building towards something and early on
00:50in this game they faced adversity. They were down 13 after one quarter and they had given up 38 points.
00:58You were watching this game. You saw the first quarter. You're like, I don't like what I'm
01:02seeing for the Knicks here. This seems like what I've seen at points in the three previous games
01:06but then the Knicks tighten up and they played their best defense of the season. The most sustained
01:13I would say defensive effort we've seen from this Knicks team all season as they really put the
01:18clamps down on the Pistons in the second quarter and then in the third quarter because that's what
01:23was really impressive. They came out after halftime and still put the clamps down on the Pistons. They
01:27held the Pistons to just 12 points in that second quarter as they came back and took a one point
01:32lead and then they started out the third quarter really strong with an 11-0 run and that was really
01:37good. We'll get more to that 11-0 run and why things look good for the Knicks offensively but
01:42defensively they got punched in the mouth early on in this one and then they fought back. So Mike
01:47Brown always talks about adversity. You like the fact that you saw them deal with adversity in this
01:51one and fight right back defensively. After the game, Mike Brown. He talked about what he liked from
01:58this Knicks team on the defensive end. Our level of physicality and you know our guys were doing
02:04their work early. You know if you give Detroit credit their pace was fantastic. Their screens were
02:12fantastic but if you react to them offensively you're going to get hit with the screen and you're going to
02:19be
02:19two steps behind which causes the dominoes to fall and them to get easy shots which they started
02:25getting as the first quarter went along. Once our guys realized no no I can't react to them I got
02:32to
02:32dictate to them what's going to happen and they do it with a smart level of physicality then it
02:40game may be a little harder but it makes it easier. You know and again I take my hat off
02:45to all of our
02:46guys because they started doing that in that second quarter and third quarter. So you're hearing
02:53the word a lot from Mike Brown physicality. He said that a bunch through the start of the season
02:56really challenging his team to be better defensively and bring that physicality. We know this is a
03:01Pistons team that can do that but the Knicks brought it back to them tonight. Now offensively when
03:06you look at the Knicks, Jalen Brunson he's been struggling thus far this season. Came into this contest
03:11shooting 39 percent and then he started off this game shooting one of nine. So not a good game
03:17shooting from the field from Jalen Brunson but in the third quarter things changed for him. He helped
03:21spark that 11-0 run that I talked about. He had his first three shots. That was huge for the
03:25Knicks but
03:26when you look at Jalen Brunson's game in this one you'll see the 23 points and what you will like
03:30about what Jalen Brunson did he got to the line and he got to the line 16 times. He was
03:35relentless
03:36in attacking the Pistons defense so even when the shot wasn't falling he still was able to get to
03:41the line and help this Knicks offense get easy points and then also convert them from the charity
03:46stripes. So you had to like what you saw from Jalen Brunson in this one. It looks like he's taking
03:50good shots. He allowed his team to get a little bit more into the flow of the offense as the
03:55game
03:55got along and wasn't forcing it but it was good to see him get into rhythm in the third quarter
04:00and
04:01Mike Brown talked about this after the game. He said he likes the shots that his team are taking
04:04overall. He thinks more of them will eventually fall. The Knicks still not having their best
04:09shooting performance but this was a much better night offensively than we had seen in the first
04:13three games for the Knickerbockers. Now when you talk about offense you also got to talk about taking
04:18care of the ball and the Knicks still in this one very sloppy with the basketball. 18 turnovers in this
04:25contest. Seven of them coming from Carl Anthony Townsend. This is something I talked about the other day
04:30with Vincent Goodwill when he was on the show. We put that at the top of the list of the
04:34things the
04:34Knicks had to clean up and I think the coaching staff and the players will agree that they still
04:38have to clean this up. 18 turnovers is too much. It allowed Detroit to even get back in this game
04:43when they took a 25 point lead and they were able to cut it down to as low as 11
04:47in the fourth quarter.
04:49So the Knicks playing with the ball a little bit sloppy. That is something that has to change
04:53for the Knicks going forward and they're going to have to clean that up. Mike Brown talked about the
04:57turnovers after this one. It's a two-piece thing. Kat's got to take care of the ball okay a little
05:03bit better with his passes but then there are times too where he makes the right pass and we kind
05:10of
05:10stop trying to cut the score and every you know you have your sets and your actions that you run
05:17but every cut that you make you have to finish it like it's a scoring opportunity even though you
05:24might have some quote-unquote false action false action then it's for this guy well that first
05:29false action if it's to the rim or if you're open you've got to be ready to catch the scored
05:34ball
05:34so there's been a couple times where it's hit guys hands because they may not be looking and it's
05:39gone out of bounds so we got to do a better job making sure every cut or every action of
05:45the main
05:46action is we're doing it to score and then Kat's got to make sure he doesn't look to hit home
05:52runs
05:53all the time especially if a guy's vision is not there. Okay let's go back to something that
05:58actually is a little bit encouraging this game we talked about the shooting of Jalen Brunson
06:02Mikel Bridges he also has been struggling shooting the ball came as this contest having missed his
06:07first 10 three-pointers of the season and you know what in this game he had 12 points all on
06:13threes
06:13hit four threes in this contest so he hit his first four three-pointers of the season that was a
06:19good
06:19sign to see from Mikel Bridges he got a lot of good looks a lot of open looks and he
06:23was able to
06:24knock them down so hopefully his confidence is going up to as well with Jalen Brunson seeing those
06:29guys hit shots I think it matters it's a matter of time when you look at this Knicks offense I
06:34still
06:34like how it looks they're generating good looks they're just not finishing them all the time but I
06:39thought it was a really good sign to see Mikel Bridges knock down some threes and you're starting to see
06:44his confidence go up a bit more after the last couple of games so we'll see now where does this
06:49take the Knicks they got their first win so now you don't have to worry about them being winless or
06:53starting 0-4 now they got a quick turnaround going to the Windy City they got to battle the Bulls
06:59tomorrow night we will see how all that works out can they build upon what they had here tonight
07:05in New York getting this win over the Pistons it'll be interesting to see because then coming at the end
07:09of the week they have their first NBA Cup game down in Philadelphia where they will face the Sixers
07:14so the Knicks with their first back-to-back test coming up on Wednesday night and we'll see if they
07:19are able to bounce back but look if you're a Knicks fan and you're looking at this game you got
07:24the win
07:24you saw some good things you saw defense really really good defense for two quarters against this
07:30Pistons team a Pistons team that had beat this Knicks all three times last year a Pistons team
07:34that had brought it to the Knicks time and time again you saw the Knicks meet the moment
07:37match them with the physicality now this doesn't mean that Mike Brown was asked this after the game
07:42how it felt to be the team that had beat them down last year to get their first win against
07:47them and
07:47he said oh yeah you know what could mean that but it means nothing if then we see them in
07:51the playoffs
07:51and they beat us so about the Knicks it's always been about this it's never been about panicking
07:57it's been about building and how they handle adversity they've had some adversity early in the first
08:02three games of the season they got a good win now it's for us to watch and see
08:06can they build upon that win starting on Wednesday night in Chicago we're gonna see but a good win
08:12for the Knickerbockers 111 to 97 over the Detroit Pistons here at Madison Square Garden that's gonna do it
08:17for New York Got Game here at the world's most famous arena I'm Dexter Henry we'll catch you next time
08:24and thanks for watching New York Got Game boom shakalaka
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