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
02:40the game may be a little harder but it makes it easier. You know and again I take my hat
02:45off to all
02:46of our guys 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 really
02:57challenging his team to be better defensively and bring that physicality. We know this is a Pistons
03:02team that can do that but the Knicks brought it back to them tonight. Now offensively when you look at
03:07the
03:07Knicks Jalen Brunson he's been struggling thus far this season came into this contest shooting 39% and then he
03:14started off this game shooting one of nine. So not a good game shooting from the field from Jalen
03:18Brunson but in the third quarter things changed for him. He helped spark that 11-0 run that I talked
03:23about. He had his first three shots that was huge for the Knicks but when you look at Jalen Brunson's
03:27game in this one you'll see the 23 points and what you will like about what Jalen Brunson did
03:32he got to the line and he got to the line 16 times. He was relentless in attacking the Pistons
03:37defense
03:38so even when the shot wasn't falling he still was able to get to the line and help this Knicks
03:42offense get easy points and then also convert them from the charity stripes. So you had to like
03:47what you saw from Jalen Brunson in this one it looks like he's taking good shots. He allowed his
03:52team to get a little bit more into the flow of the offense as the game got along and wasn't
03:56forcing
03:57it but it was good to see him get into rhythm in the third quarter and Mike Brown talked about
04:02this
04:02after the game. He said he likes the shots that his team are taking overall. He thinks more of them
04:06will eventually fall. The Knicks still not having their best shooting performance but this was a much
04:10better night offensively than we had seen in the first three games for the Knickerbockers. Now when
04:16you talk about offense you also got to talk about taking care of the ball and the Knicks still in
04:20this one very sloppy with the basketball. 18 turnovers in this contest. Seven of them coming
04:27from Carl Anthony Townsend. This is something I talked about the other day with Vincent Goodwill
04:31when he was on the show. We put that at the top of the list of the things the Knicks
04:34had to clean up
04:35and I think the coaching staff and the players will agree that they still have to clean this up.
04:3918 turnovers is too much. It allowed Detroit to even get back in this game when they took a 25
04:44point lead and they were able to cut it down to as low as 11 in the fourth quarter. So
04:49the Knicks
04:49playing with the ball a little bit sloppy that is something that has to change for the Knicks going
04:54forward and they're going to have to clean that up. Mike Brown talked about the turnovers after this one.
04:58It's a two-piece thing. Cat's got to take care of the ball a little bit better with his passes
05:05but
05:05then there are times too where he makes the right pass and we kind of stop trying to cut the
05:13score.
05:14You have your sets and your actions that you run but every cut that you make you have to finish
05:21it like it's a scoring opportunity. Even though you might have some quote-unquote false action,
05:26false action then it's for this guy. Well that first false action if it's to the rim or if you're
05:31open you've got to be ready to catch the scored ball. So there's been a couple times where it's
05:36hit guys hands because they may not be looking and it's going out of bounds. So we got to do
05:41a
05:41better job making sure every cut or every action of the main action is we're doing it to score and
05:50then Cat's got to make sure he doesn't look to hit home runs all the time especially if a guy's
05:55vision
05:55is not there. Okay, let's go back to something that actually is a little bit encouraging this game.
06:00We talked about the shooting of Jalen Brunson, Mikel Bridges. He also has been struggling shooting
06:05the ball. Came as this contest having missed his first 10 three-pointers of the season and you know
06:10what? In this game he had 12 points all on threes, hit four threes in this contest. So he hit
06:16his first
06:16four three-pointers of the season. That was a good sign to see from Mikel Bridges. He got a lot
06:21of good
06:21looks, a lot of open looks and he was able to knock them down. So hopefully his confidence is
06:26going up to as well with Jalen Brunson. Seeing those guys hit shots, I think it matters. It's
06:31a matter of time. When you look at this Knicks offense, I still like how it looks. They're
06:36generating good looks. They're just not finishing them all the time. But I thought it was a really
06:40good sign to see Mikel Bridges knock down some threes and you're starting to see his confidence go
06:45up a bit more after the last couple of games. So we'll see. Now, where does this take the Knicks?
06:49They got their first win. So now you don't have to worry about them being winless or starting
06:530-4. 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
07:04tonight in New York getting this win over the Pistons? It'll be interesting to see because
07:08then coming at the end of the week, they have their first NBA Cup game down in Philadelphia
07:12where they will face the Sixers. So the Knicks with their first back-to-back test coming up on
07:17a Wednesday night and we'll see if they are able to bounce back. But look, if you're a Knicks fan
07:21and you're looking at this game, you got the win. You saw some good things. You saw defense,
07:26really, really good defense for two quarters against this Pistons team. A Pistons team that
07:31had beat this Knicks all three times last year. A Pistons team that had brought it to the Knicks
07:35time and time again. You saw the Knicks meet the moment, match them with the physicality. Now,
07:40this doesn't mean that Mike Brown was asked this after the game, how it felt to be the team that
07:44had beat them down last year to get their first win against them. And he said, oh, yeah, you know,
07:48it could mean that, but it means nothing if then we see them in the playoffs and they beat us.
07:52So about the Knicks, it's always been about this. It's never been about panicking. It's been about
07:58building and how they handle adversity. They've had some adversity early in the first three games
08:02of the season. They got a good win. Now it's for us to watch and see, can they build upon
08:08that win
08:08starting on Wednesday night in Chicago? We're going to see, but a good win for the Knickerbockers,
08:13111 to 97 over the Detroit Pistons here at Madison Square Garden. That's going to do it for
08:18New 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.
08:27Boom shakalaka!
