Halftime talk fires up Towns as Knicks turn thing around vs Pistons
NEW YORK, United States — Mike Brown didn’t mince words when he challenged Karl-Anthony Towns at halftime Tuesday night (Wednesday, Manila time).
Paul Reed, Detroit’s backup center pressed into a starting role because of Jalen Duren’s injury, was getting the better of the New York Knicks’ perennial All-Star.
Reed had 16 points in the first half. Towns had just eight points and three rebounds.
Brown had seen enough.
“KAT's a grown man. He’s obviously a perennial All-Star. I just told him the truth,” Brown said during his post-game news conference at the Madison Square Garden.
The truth?
“KAT, this guy is killing us on the glass.”
Towns answered the challenge with 19 points and 17 rebounds after halftime, finishing with 27 points and 20 rebounds as the Knicks defeated the previously unbeaten Pistons, 111-97.
It was Towns’ first 20-point, 20-rebound performance of the season and fifth in a Knicks uniform, helping New York (1-3) secure its first victory of the season while handing Detroit (3-1) its first loss.
But the box score told only part of the story.
A heated third-quarter confrontation between Towns and Reed, followed by foul trouble for Detroit’s starting center and a frightening fall involving John Collins, helped clear the runway for Towns’ dominant second half.
Towns answers Brown’s challenge as Reed gets into foul trouble
The Knicks had already erased a 13-point first-quarter deficit to take a 51-50 halftime lead, but Brown wasn’t satisfied.
Reed, starting in place of Duren, who was sidelined by a hamstring injury, had repeatedly punished New York around the basket.
Brown wanted Towns to do something about it.
“When he gets a rebound, he’s putting it back,” Brown said of Reed. “Anything he gets in the paint, he’s putting it back. Catches on the perimeter, you know, guard him.”
Towns responded with a different level of aggression.
The physical battle between the two big men boiled over with 8:30 remaining in the third quarter when Reed caught Towns in the head with an elbow while battling for a rebound.
Towns confronted Reed before the players were separated. Officials assessed Reed a flagrant-1 foul, and Towns converted both free throws.
Less than two minutes later, Reed picked up his fifth personal foul with 7:21 remaining in the third quarter.
Suddenly, the player who had dominated the first half was in serious foul trouble, limiting Detroit’s options against an increasingly aggressive Towns.
The Knicks took advantage.
Towns scored 13 points in the third quarter as New York overwhelmed Detroit 37-13, turning a one-point halftime advantage into an 88-63 lead.
Reed, who had scored 16 points before halftime, managed just six more the rest of the night.
Collins’ scary fall further depletes Pistons’ frontcourt
Detroit’s problems in the paint deepened later in the third quarter.
With 3:59 remaining, Collins crashed to the floor while battling Towns for a rebound, striking his head hard against the Madison Square Garden hardwood.
The impact produced a loud thud that could be heard even from the Chase Bridge high above the court.
Towns was assessed a loose-ball foul on the play.
Collins checked out and did not return, finishing with two points and nine rebounds in 27 minutes.
Already without Duren and with Reed saddled with five fouls, Detroit suddenly found itself with even fewer options to counter Towns’ physical presence.
The sequence further tilted the matchup in New York’s favor.
After managing just three rebounds in the opening half, Towns grabbed 17 over the final two quarters while scoring 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting.
Asked what changed after halftime, Towns pointed to the Knicks’ collective response rather than his individual performance.
“I thought we did a better job picking up on our intensity and our physicality, and we executed at a high level,” Towns said. “We’ve got to worry about the controllables, which is playing our best.”
The difference was unmistakable. Towns went from being outplayed by Reed in the first half to controlling the paint as New York pulled away for its first victory of the season.
Knicks finally show the physicality Brown has demanded
Brown had spent much of the opening week questioning his team’s consistency, particularly its ability to sustain physical play.
Against Detroit, he finally saw longer stretches of the basketball he has been preaching.
New York overcame a disastrous opening quarter in which the Pistons scored 38 points.
Rather than allowing Detroit to dictate the tempo, the Knicks became the aggressors.
Brown credited his players for recognizing that they couldn’t simply react to the Pistons’ movement and screens.
“Once our guys realized, no, no, I can’t react to them. I got to dictate to them what’s going to happen, and do it with a smart level of physicality,” Brown said.
Jalen Brunson finished with 23 points and seven assists as New York’s defense held Detroit to just 13 points in the third quarter.
The Knicks will try to build on their breakthrough when they visit the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday (Thursday, Manila time) in the second game of a back-to-back.
But Brown wasn’t ready to declare the Knicks’ early-season problems solved.
“Is it fixed? No, it ain’t fixed. Nothing’s really fixed,” Brown said. “What tonight shows us is we’re more than capable if we put our minds to it, and that’s what we got to continue to try to build on.”
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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for US-based publication Heavy.com.
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