At the end of the night, the one that featured Cameron Payne as the Garden hero and Jalen Brunson as the one with the “cape” — Tom Thibodeau’s word to describe the strange sequence when Brunson went back to the locker room and returned with a new pair of sneakers — and OG Anunoby as the Cade Cunningham antidote, the Knicks still stared down a startling message.
They were 5:27 away from being down 1-0 in their first-round series with the Pistons. If it wasn’t for the 21-0 run, they would’ve faced an entirely different crunch time Saturday night. Maybe they wouldn’t have won at all. Detroit showed it could hold its own for three quarters while on the road.
That’s not to say how the Knicks finished Game 1 wasn’t impressive. Brunson, with 34 points, was impressive. Anunoby, with 23 points and plenty of points saved while containing Cunningham, was impressive. Payne, who poured in 11 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, was impressive. But as they enter Game 2 on Monday, as both teams run it back at the Garden before the series shifts to Detroit, the Knicks need to avoid messing around in Game 2. They can’t afford to give this young, physical team any sign of life when the series shifts and there are two days off to think, to ponder, to dream about what could happen in front of their own fans.
The Knicks can’t get into another situation like Game 1. They can’t bank on another 21-0 run to save them. They can’t settle for a strong 5:27 and forget about the other 43:33. They need to take care of business at the Garden, a venue packed with fans and celebrities and everything that playoff basketball should be about, and then count any wins in Detroit as bonuses.
