New York Knicks star duo Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson had some interesting points about the shot-clock malfunction in Game 3 against the Detroit Pistons.
When asked about their thoughts on the mishap, Towns responded by saying: “Shoutout to their table. 10 years, I ain’t never seen that. They gave ’em a chance. Shoutout to them. I got nothing but respect for that.”
Brunson chimed in with the big man’s response and said, “They need a raise for that. Smart on their part.”
The Knicks-Pistons series saw a rather controversial event at the end of Game 3. With the Knicks enjoying a one-possession lead in the dying seconds of the game, the Pistons received another chance to keep their chances of winning alive.
With 0.5 seconds on the clock, the score was 118-116 in New York’s favor. At this point, it was fairly logical for Jalen Brunson, who was to shoot his second free throw, to miss it on purpose and secure the win for his team.
As instructed by head coach Tom Thibodeau, Brunson missed the free throw and effectively clinched the win in Game 3. However, the clock started running, and the buzzer sounded before anyone could touch the ball. This rendered the play invalid and gave the Pistons some time on the clock to come up with a miracle play to try and win the game.
Knicks miss the FT on purpose so the Pistons don’t get a shot but the Pistons scorers table sounded the buzzer before anyone touched the ball and then the Pistons had a chance at the final shot 😠pic.twitter.com/iBA9sJtGvT
— Underdog (@Underdog) April 25, 2025
Unfortunately, the Pistons couldn’t capitalize on this opportunity and ended up falling short. The loss sees them give up the series lead to New York, as the Knicks now improve to 2-1.
Knicks players were quite annoyed with how they came about the win. Josh Hart also implied that the malfunction was an example of home-court advantage displayed by Detroit.
Game 3 was a heated battle. A total of five technical fouls and one flagrant foul in the game only captured the essence of the competitive and physical nature of this series.
The Knicks came out strong behind some crucial performances by Towns and Brunson. The Knicks’ big man led the scoring effort with 31 points on the night to go with eight rebounds, proving a lot of naysayers wrong in the process.
Meanwhile, Brunson, the NBA’s newly named Clutch Player of the Year, came up with an impressive performance of 30 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists.
Brunson displayed why he earned his title with some vital scoring output down the stretch. With timely buckets to respond to the Pistons’ efforts to make a comeback, the Knicks guard solidified the win on the road.
Detroit also saw solid performances by its backcourt duo of Cade Cunningham and Tim Hardaway Jr. Both players recorded 24 points on the night. Cunningham also had a near triple-double outing with 11 assists to go with seven rebounds.
A loss at home will hurt the Pistons, who were enjoying a successful outing in Game 2. With a need to level the series and keep their postseason hopes alive, Detroit will head into the next game on Sunday at 1:00 pm ET.
