The New York Knicks won Game 6 and the series with a 116-113 final score against the Detroit Pistons on a game-winning three from the 2024-2025 NBA Clutch Player of the Year, Jalen Brunson. Brunson hit the three from the top of the key with 4.1 seconds left on the clock. An errant pass from Cade Cunningham that hits Malik Beasley’s hands was the final sequence of the Pistons’ storybook season. The Knicks will face the defending champions in the second round of these playoffs starting next week.
Brunson continues to be an Elite Playoff Performer
Brunson had 40 points, and seven assists, on 15-33 shooting from the field in this series-clinching win for the Knicks. Brunson was excellent once again late in this game with multiple clutch moments in this game including the game-winner. The former Villanova guard has slowly become one of the most dangerous playoff players ever these last couple of seasons. The question is, are the minutes he’s playing under Tom Thibodeau going to hurt him against Boston next round? We will see what happens with that next round.
Bridges and Anunoby Both Stepped Up
The two starting wings for the Knicks this season, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby, both stepped up alongside Brunson in the scoring department in this game. Bridges had 25 points, and Anunoby had 22 points in this game. Those two guys having big games is a great sign for the Knicks moving forward in these playoffs, especially if Karl Anthony-Towns has a bad night scoring-wise like he did in Game 6 with 10 points.
Pistons Died by the Three in the Second Half
The Pistons were 1-12 from three-point range in the second half of this game, after having the halftime lead at 61-59 with 8-22 first half from three-point range. That was essentially the difference in this game was how the Knicks were able to defend the Pistons from three-point range in the second half. The Knicks didn’t shoot much better themselves from three-point range in this game, as they went 10-30 from deep in this game, but they did enough in the end to pull away with the win.
Final Thoughts
The Pistons provided a tough fight for the Knicks in more ways than one this entire series by sending the series to six games in the first place. This series was the Brunson show when it comes to the clutch moments, including in this game on Thursday evening. Looking at this series as a whole, Detroit got some valuable experience for the future; meanwhile, for New York, they have to play a whole lot better than they did for most of this series to have a shot against the defending champions in the next round. Game 1 in Boston will be on Monday evening for the Knicks.
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