DETROIT — Jalen Brunson scored 40 points, Mikal Bridges had 25 points and OG Anunoby added 22 to lead the New York Knicks to a 116-113 win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night and into the second round of the NBA playoffs.
The score was tied at 113 with 5.1 seconds left when Brunson made a 25-foot three-pointer to give the third-seeded Knicks the lead.
New York will next face second-seeded Boston in the Eastern semifinals. New York hasn’t made the conference finals since 2000.
Jalen Brunson celebrates his late 3-pointer on Thursday. He scored a game-high 40 points in the win over Detroit. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
The sixth-seeded Pistons had an unprecedented turnaround during the regular season and ended the NBA’s longest playoff losing streak in their first postseason appearance since 2019, but broke another league mark with a 10th straight setback at home dating to 2008.
Detroit’s Cade Cunningham had 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Cunningham was 0 for 8 on 3-pointers and his backcourt mate Tim Hardaway Jr. was 1 of 6 beyond the arc and scored seven points.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
