Brunson Game-Winning 3 Sends Knicks to 2nd Round! NY 116 Detroit 113

May 2, 2025 LouV 2024-25 0
Jalen Brunson with the game-winning 3 with 5 seconds left. Photo courtesy NY Knicks.

Jalen Brunson faked left and cut hard right — breaking Ausar Thompson‘s ankles and sending him to Cancun — while using the split second of daylight to hit a 3 from the top of the key with 4.1 seconds left — breaking a 113-113 tie and sending the Knicks to the 2nd round with a 116-113 win in Game 6.

On the final play, Detroit inbounded with 4.1 seconds left, and Cade Cunningham fed Malik Beasley for a 3 on the right side — but Beasley fumbled the ball out of bounds. Ironically Beasley was quoted the day before the game that Detroit was a stronger team mentally than the Knicks.

In Detroit on a Thursday night before a raucous Piston crowd.

The Knicks were trailing by 7 pts with 2:31 left after a Tim Hardaway Jr. jumper capped a 20-2 Detroit run in the quarter. All looked lost for the Knicks, who led by 12 with 9:30 left. It looked like the teams were headed for a game 7.

But the Knicks got stops, Brunson hit a drive-and-1, then made a spectacular dance move under the basket for a bucket, Karl-Anthony Towns stole the ball and raced ahead of the field for a drive that he was hacked on, making 1 of 2 free throws, and Mikal Bridges flew out of nowhere to put back an offensive rebound on a Brunson miss to tie the game at 113 with 35 seconds left — setting the scene for Brunson’s game winner.

Brunson finished with 40 pts on 15-33 shooting (3-10 from 3); Bridges had 25 pts on 11-16 shooting; OG Anunoby had 22 pts (4-10 from 3); KAT only had 10 pts (on 4-10 shooting, 0-1 from 3) but 15 rebounds; and Josh Hart had 13 pts, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Cade Cunningham led Detroit with 23 pts; Jalen Duran was a demon underneath and scored 21 pts (6-9 shooting and 9-10 in free throws); Beasley had 20 pts (6-13 from 3); and Ausar Thompson had 17 pts on 5-7 shooting and tough D on Brunson.

“First I’d like to start off congratulating the Pistons — JB (Bickerstaff) and his staff did an incredible job all year long; they had a terrific season,” said coach Tom Thibodeau afterwards. “Incredibly tough series. Jalen’s shot — what can you say? Timely. He’s at his best when his best is needed. He’s done it all year; that’s what makes him special.”

“But also when you look at the contributions,” continued Thibs. “KAT had 15 rebounds; a lot of tough plays that he made when we needed them. Mikal and OG where phenomenal throughout. Josh doing the things he does. And we needed all of it. And just showing the toughness; get down; finding a way to win at the end. But we have a lot of work to do.”

NY faces Boston in the 2nd round.

1. Knicks Come Out Strong, Lead by 14 After 1

Having lost the possible clinching game 5 at Madison Square Garden in the final seconds, the Knicks came out strong to look to put the series away. Jalen Brunson especially — who was 4-16 from the floor in Game 5 — looked to make amends and was scoring from everywhere.

He started the game off with a bucket, and kept attacking — scoring 15 points in the 1st quarter with 4 assists.

The Knicks were attacking on the break and dictating a fast-paced tempo.

NY led by 14 after 1 quarter.

2. Detroit Comes Back to Take Lead at Half, 61-59

But Detroit slowed the game down in the 2nd quarter, turning it into a half-court game, and got back into the game on 3’s by a suddenly red-hot Malik Beasley. When Beasley wasn’t hitting 3’s, Cade Cunningham was scoring or distributing, and Jalen Duren was being a pain in the ass down low, with buckets or free throws after being fouled.

A Jalen Duren bucket inside tied the game at 51-51, but the Knicks forged back a 57-51 lead on a bucket by Mikal Bridges, an alley-oop dunk by OG Anunoby off a Josh Hart feed, and free throws by Brunson.

Still Detroit came back to take the lead– on buckets by Dennis Schroder and Cunningham.

Mikal Bridges put the Knicks back up with a bucket, and the Knicks had the ball to end the quarter — but OG stepped on the baseline, Detroit got the ball back with 2.1 seconds, and Malik Beasley hit a 3 at the buzzer to give Detroit a 61-59 halftime lead.

3. Knicks Come Out Strong in 3rd, Take 13-Pt Lead

Josh Hart had commented after the last game that the Knicks needed to come out better in the 3rd quarter of games. And the Knicks did in this one. Mikal Bridges and KAT got consecutive buckets to start the 3rd, then Josh Hart hit a 3, OG hit free throws, and Brunson hit a 3 pushing NY out to a 74-67 lead.

The Knicks continued to attack. An OG 3 put NY up by 10 at 81-71.

4. Hack-a-Mitch

Mitchell Robinson entered and Detroit went into hack-a-Mitch mode, purposely fouling Robinson who missed 3 of 4 free throws — the one made free throw giving NY an 84-73 lead with 4:07 left in the 3rd.

The Knicks kept getting stops, and when OG blocked a Tobias Harris shot leading to a Josh Hart feed to Mikal Bridges for a highlight-reel, runaway SLAM over Cade Cunningham — NY had a 13-pt lead at 86-73 with 3 minutes left in the 3rd.

Bridges hit a 3 later in the quarter, and Josh Hart slammed home an offensive rebound with 16 seconds left gave NY a 96-85 lead entering the 4th.

5. Knicks Lead by 11 with 8:52 Left in Game

With Detroit’s season on the line, they came out with an aggressive defense to start the 4th but the Knicks pushed back. Cameron Payne snaked through for a bucket and NY was up 11.

An OG Anunoby drive-and-1 put NY up 101-89 with 9:30 left.

Jalen Duren responded with a bucket-and-1, but Brunson hit a drive and NY was up by 11 with 8:52 left.

6. Detroit Goes on 20-2 Run — Lead by 7 with 2:31 Left

And then Detroit went on a 13-0 run. Buckets by Cunningham and Ausar Thompson, free throws by Duren, a 3 by Hardaway, and another bucket by Thompson tied the game at 103 with 6 minutes left.

As usual for the Knicks, here came the final 6 rollercoaster minutes.

A 10-footer by Cunningham gave Detroit a 105-103 lead with 5:30 left — 13 straight Detroit points.

Everything was going wrong for NY. Brunson hit a drive-and-1, but Detroit challenged and won the challenge forcing a jump ball. Duren won the tip but sent the ball out of bounds.

Josh Hart finally broke the run with a bucket inside off a nifty Brunson pass to tie the game.

Detroit kept coming. A Jalen Duren score inside, an Ausar Thompson bucket, a Thompson free throw, and a Tim Hardaway Jr. baseline jumper gave Detroit a 112-105 lead with 2:35 left.

All looked lost for the Knicks.

7. Brunson & Knicks Take It at Wild End

But Brunson hit a drive-and-1 — Detroit challenged again and this time lost the challenge as Dennis Schroder got in Brunson’s path.

The Knicks got a stop — a Duren miss inside with KAT ripping down the rebound, and Brunson — taking no prisoners — forced his way inside and made a spectacular dance-move drive for a 112-110 game with 1:38 left.

KAT then stole a Cunningham pass and raced ahead of the field — where he was HACKED across the arm by Duren. KAT made 1 of 2 free throws — grabbing his own missed 2nd free throw but throwing the ball away — Ausar Thompson stealing it.

But Tobias Harris threw the ball away for Detroit.

NY had the ball, trailing 112-111 with 1:02 left, but Thompson smothered Brunson on the right side 35 feet from the basket — blocking his shot and causing the shot clock to expire.

Detroit got the ball and Duren was fouled inside by KAT with 49 seconds left — sending KAT out of the game with 6 fouls.

But Duren — who was 8-8 in free throws to that point on the night — missed the 1st — as Walt Frazier on the broadcast warned the free throws get harder to make late in the game with the pressure on. Duren hit the 2nd — but the miss was a huge turn for NY, as Detroit had only a 2-pt lead at 113-111.

Brunson missed a 13-footer with 37 seconds left but Mikal Bridges flew out of nowhere to put it back in on an offensive rebound to tie the game! HUGE.

NY forced Cade Cunningham into a rushed, missed shot inside, and NY had the ball with 21 seconds left as Josh Hart called timeout.

Out of the timeout, Brunson ran the clock down to 7 seconds before making his move on Thompson, and nailing the 3-pointer for a 116-113 Knick lead with 4.1 seconds left!

NBA Analyst Ross Kreines summed it up: “Jalen Brunson stays in attack mode, dictates where he wants to go not the other way around while keeping his defender at his mercy along with utilizing his big time fundamentals which not only create space but also contact. Jalen always aware of time, situation and moment, game over.”

After a timeout, Detroit inbounded with a chance to tie on a 3 — Cunningham fed Malik Beasley who fumbled the ball out of bounds with .1 seconds left. NY got the ball in and that was ballgame.

8. KAT vs Duren — NY Out-Rebounded Detroit

KAT took some heat from Knick fans after the game for only scoring 10 points on 4-10 shooting (0-1 from 3). But KAT was HUGE in the game — 15 rebounds to Jalen Duren’s 6 rebounds — and was key to NY out-rebounding Detroit 43-36.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401768045

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