NEW YORK – Maybe there is such a thing as a championship hangover.
At least for one night and three quarters of nearly flawless execution, the New York Knicks avoided an embarrassing history, and it might signal that the NBA champions are not ready for an extended stint in basketball rehab.
Over the first three games of this new season, the Knicks looked nothing like the team that earned adulation and praise after snapping a 53-year title drought.
After a 111-97 win at Madison Square Garden over the Detroit Pistons, handing them their first loss, the 1969-70 Boston Celtics remain the last defending champs to start the season by losing each of their first four games. That team went 34-48 in its first season after legend Bill Russell retired.
New York, which snapped a six-game regular-season losing streak to Detroit, entered the game with the league’s least efficient offense, with a 40.8 field-goal percentage ranked only ahead of the Chicago Bulls.
“Close to 48 minutes of basketball the way we know we can play and like to play," Knicks head coach Mike Brown said after the game. "We had some lulls where we weren't as physical as we should've been, during the course of the game, but we had some really good moments. We had more good moments in this game than we did in the totality of the first three games, and that's why we got the win."
In the first quarter, those bad trends held true to form as Detroit, with victories already over fellow Eastern Conference contenders the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and Philadelphia 76ers, raced out to a 38-25 first quarter lead, doing the things that they lacked in getting them bounced from the second round of the playoffs last season despite having the conference’s best record.
The Pistons relied on a balanced attack, with three different leading scorers in those three games, plus finding long-distance shooting, hitting 42% from downtown and scoring 118 points a game.
Their shooting abandoned Detroit after the first 12 minutes, as an 18-5 run by the Knicks in the second quarter tied the score at 43, led by reserve Landry Shamet, who scored 10 points during that stretch, as the Pistons only scored a combined 25 points in the second and third quarters and found themselves down by 25 entering the final quarter.
The Knicks scored the first 11 points of the third quarter and took their biggest lead, as part of a 15-4 stretch that essentially put the game away as the home team ran its lead up to 27, and finished the road-weary Pistons off with a 12-2 flurry, as they missed 15 of their 19 shots coming out after halftime.
Karl-Anthony Towns led six Knicks in double figures with 27 points and 20 rebounds, his fifth 20-20 game as a member of the Knicks. Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, who went 1-for-10 in the first half, finished with 23 points (13-16 FT) and seven assists.
Almost like laying bricks for a new foundation at the World’s Most Famous Arena, New York shot 35% in the first quarter; then the bench came on, the Knicks heated up, and they started forcing the issue on both ends of the floor as Detroit went cold. Both teams finished shooting 43%, as the game got bogged down with a flurry of fouls and free-throw misses, especially by the Pistons.
Knicks coach Mike Brown called out his team for their lack of effort early in the season, saying they looked lethargic and were slow to get upcourt in transition, which contributed to their next-to-last pace in the league. Brown was singing a different tune after a thorough victory.
Brown said he challenged Towns at halftime and told him that Paul Reed, who replaced the injured Duren in the starting lineup, was getting the best of him in their matchup.
"KAT's a grown man, he's obviously a perennial All-Star. I just told him the truth." Brown added. "The guy is killing us in the paint. Anything he gets, he's putting it back. Catch him on the perimeter, guard him. And he did those things. I gotta take my hat off. I thought his shift in mindset was really big for us in the second half."
Detroit again played without All-NBA center Jalen Duren, who sat out with a hamstring injury, as Cade Cunningham had 19 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. Reed led the Pistons with 22 points, but they hit a pitiful 9-for-37 (23%) from the 3-point line.
While their shooting woes continue, New York turned it on, especially defensively, when they needed to much like their championship series against the San Antonio Spurs, when they were down at least double digits at some point in each of the five games.
“This is a long season and we can have hiccups, but that’s what the season’s for: so they can correct it come playoff time so we can do what we need to do," Brown said.
Even Brunson joked during his television interview following the victory when asked, "You said the first few weeks of the season, you'll learn who you guys are. Who are you?"
Brunson calmed stated, "Uh, we're the Knicks, actually. But most importantly, we got to remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. This is a new year, new team. Adversity started early, and so we just got to fight back."
The NBA champions, indeed.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Knicks get first win of season with convincing victory over Pistons