Game Recap: 2025 NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 4 – NYK at DET; NYK: 94, DET: 93
Karl-Anthony Towns is an even better player than we thought. It might not look pretty when he moves around the court, but somehow, the best three-point shooting big man in the NBA has added the fadeaway to his arsenal.
“It’s the NBA playoffs,” said Karl-Anthony Towns. “You expect nothing but the greatest competition right now in NBA basketball this season. You go out there, you wanna match their physicality. You understand you’re in Detroit. You’re playing Detroit, who hasn’t been in the playoffs, and they have a lot of pride right now. They haven’t seen the playoffs in a while, so they want to fight for their city. And as much as they want to fight for their city, we’re trying to fight for our city.”
On Sunday afternoon in Detroit, the Knicks exceeded the Pistons’ physicality. It was the only way for them to win Game 4 and take a 3-1 series lead. The Knicks drove through lanes and destroyed screens to beat the Pistons 94-93, but the win didn’t come without controversy.
As the clock was winding down in the fourth quarter, Cade Cunningham missed a jump shot from point-blank range before Mikal Bridges misplayed the rebound, and the ball rolled toward former Knick Tim Hardaway Jr. Hardaway attempted a corner three in front of the Knicks’ bench, but he missed the shot.
“I’m following the ball, and it rolls right to [Hardaway],” said Mikal Bridges, who started the game 1-for-10 from the field but defended well throughout the game. “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ but thank God, he missed it, and whatever else happened during that play.”
It was later ruled in a pool report that Josh Hart made illegal contact with Hardaway, but the officials failed to call the foul. Detroit couldn’t challenge the play because they missed a challenge in the first quarter. It feels like every game in this series has come down to the final half-second.
“During live play, it was judged that Josh Hart made a legal defensive play. After postgame review, we observed that Hart makes body contact that is more than marginal to Hardaway Jr. and a foul should have been called.”
Had the officials called a foul on Hart, with the Pistons down 94-93 with just over one second remaining in regulation, Hardaway could have shot three free throws to win the game for Detroit. Soulda, woulda, coulda. It was too late for the Pistons and their fuming head coach, JB Bickerstaff.
“There’s contact on Tim Hardaway, his jump shot,” said Bickerstaff on the missed foul call. “The guy leaves his feet, he’s at [Hardaway’s] mercy, and I repeat, there’s contact on his jump shot.”
“You guys saw it,” said Hardaway after the game. “Blatant.”
Hart finished Game 4 with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and four steals. He went 3-for-5 from three-point range. “It’s just the toughness, man,” said Josh Hart. “Everyone talks about this team, we don’t have the physicality, we don’t do this, we don’t do that. We tune that out.”
The Knicks had Detroit’s offense pinned and helpless throughout the first half, leading by as many as 16 points. But in the third quarter, Detroit came storming back, and in the fourth, they took an 11-point lead over the Knicks. As soon as the Knicks lost their lead, ABC decided to air the AT&T commercial in which Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart say goodbye to Donte DiVincenzo and wish they could have played with him “forever.”
But then, with 2:52 to go in the third quarter, Jalen Brunson was on the ground. He couldn’t get up. He couldn’t put weight on his right leg. His ankle injury was back. In Game 1, Jalen Brunson injured his ankle and struggled to get up from the floor, but he went into the locker room, changed his shoes, and delivered his team’s best fourth quarter of the season.
But it was impossible to believe that would happen again. You don’t get a Willis Reed moment from the same player twice in one series, right? Let alone three times in two postseasons. That would be insane. It’s the New York Knicks, the NBA team that hasn’t won a championship since 1973. The team that makes their fans believe before breaking their hearts again, year after year.
So, in what world was Jalen Brunson going to have another Willis Reed moment?
Let’s rename the entire concept of a “Willis Reed moment” to “the Jalen Brunson.” Somehow, magically, Brunson returned from the locker room and delivered an exceptional fourth quarter for his team. Maybe he clicked his heels together three times. Maybe Dick Barnett passed him some luck (rest in peace). There’s too much playoff basketball left this season for us to stop and wonder how Jalen Brunson can break his hands and legs, hobble off the court, and return as the game’s most impactful player. But man, this six-foot-two point guard is fantastical.
Brunson scored 15 points after returning from the locker room. He finished the game with 32 points and 11 assists, becoming the first NBA player to ever record at least 30 points and seven assists in each of the first four games of a playoff series.
“I had to take a breath, relax, and think what’s going on,” Brunson said when asked what he did in the locker room after hobbling off the court. “I realized I had to readjust and make sure I was mentally ready to go back in the game, because I was going back in the game.”
It’s called mental toughness, and it’s been the key for the Knicks throughout this series. No one on this team has been more mentally tough than the Knicks' captain, Jalen Brunson.
He’s fighting for his city.
