Knicks Top Pistons 111-97 for First Win After 0-3 Start

The New York Knicks beat the previously undefeated Detroit Pistons 111-97 on Tuesday night to claim their first win of the season. The loss dropped the Pistons to 3-0. Detroit had beaten the Knicks in all three of their regular-season meetings during the 2025-26 season.

New York opened Tuesday's game down 38-25 after one quarter. The Knicks then outscored Detroit 63-25 over the next two quarters. The Pistons scored 12 points in the second quarter against New York's defense.

"We had more good moments in this game in totality than we did the first three games and that's why we got the win," Knicks coach Mike Brown said.

The victory came after New York opened the season with losses to Philadelphia, Boston and Orlando. The Knicks lost three games in their first three contests, matching the loss total from their 19 playoff games last spring. During that postseason run, the team went 16-3 and set a record for the largest point differential by a team in a postseason.

A fourth straight loss would have put New York alongside the 1969-70 Boston Celtics as the only reigning champions to lose their first four games. The Celtics' run of 11 titles in 13 years ended after Hall of Fame center Bill Russell retired.

The Knicks returned this season with their entire starting five intact. The group includes NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and fellow All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns finished Tuesday's game with 27 points and 20 rebounds.

"I thought we did a great job, like I said, picking up the physicality, a lot of energy in the game, looking more like ourselves from last year," Towns said. "But we still have a lot of growing to do and tomorrow's another day for us to test ourselves and get better."

Brunson entered the game shooting 39% from the field and went 1 for 9 in the first half. He made his first three shots in the third quarter to start an 11-0 run. That sequence turned a one-point halftime lead into a 62-50 advantage. Brunson finished 5 for 18 from the field with 23 points and seven assists.

"I was just trying to do things to help my team and things will turn eventually," Brunson said.

Mikal Bridges, who averaged 3.3 points and missed all 10 of his 3-point attempts across the first three games, scored 12 points on Tuesday. He finished 4 for 8 from behind the arc.

New York entered the day ranked last in the league with 101.7 points per game. Brown said he was more concerned that the team also ranked at the bottom in pace. The Knicks needed to play faster, and Brown said defending better to create more opportunities in transition helped with that Tuesday.

The Knicks travel to Chicago on Wednesday for the second game of a back-to-back. Brown said the team will have hiccups throughout the season as it works to peak in the playoffs the way it did last year. "So 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've got to continue to try to build off. The Knicks play the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.