Knicks beat previously unbeaten Pistons 111-97 for first win as Karl-Anthony Towns has 27 points and 20 rebounds

Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 20 rebounds as the New York Knicks, the defending NBA champions, beat the previously unbeaten Detroit Pistons 111-97 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (US time; tip-off midnight GMT Wednesday 28 October) for their first win of the season. AP said a defeat would have made New York only the second defending champion in NBA history to start 0-4, after the 1969-70 Boston Celtics. The Knicks are 1-3 and the Pistons 3-1.

AP said it was the Knicks’ first win since Game 5 of the NBA Finals. They had lost their first three games to Philadelphia, Boston and Orlando, which AP noted was as many defeats as they had in 19 games during last season’s run to the title.

Score by quarter (ESPN): Knicks 25-26-37-23, Pistons 38-12-13-34.

The third quarter

Detroit led 38-25 after the first quarter and were ahead by 15 early on, according to ESPN, with Paul Reed, starting in place of the injured Jalen Duren, scoring 22 points with nine rebounds. The Knicks led 51-50 at half-time after holding the Pistons to 12 points in the second quarter.

Jalen Brunson, who AP said came into the game shooting 39% for the season, was 1 for 9 in the first half. He made his first three shots of the third quarter, and a Mikal Bridges three-pointer was part of an 11-0 run to open the period that made it 62-50, AP reported. Towns then scored seven straight Knicks points, and a 12-2 finish to the quarter, ending with a Josh Hart three-pointer at the buzzer, put New York 88-63 ahead. ESPN said the Knicks outscored Detroit 63-25 across the middle two quarters.

Brunson finished with 23 points on 5-of-18 shooting and 13 of 16 free throws, with seven assists, according to the ESPN box score. Bridges scored 12, making his first four three-pointers of the season after going without one in the first three games. OG Anunoby and Landry Shamet scored 13 each, Andre Drummond had 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench, and Hart had five steals.

ESPN said Towns’s 27 and 20 was the 14th time in his career he had at least 25 points and 20 rebounds in a game, and the fourth in a Knicks uniform. Knicks coach Mike Brown said he challenged Towns at half-time over Reed’s impact on the boards. “I told him the truth, ‘KAT, the guy is killing us on the glass and if he’s getting a rebound, he’s putting it back up. If he catches it on the perimeter, guard him,’” Brown said, according to ESPN. “And he did those things.”

Detroit’s streak ends

Cade Cunningham had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Pistons, who AP said were seeking their first 4-0 start since 2018-19. ESPN said Cunningham shot 4 of 14 after the first quarter, and that Ausar Thompson, who scored 11, fouled out in the fourth quarter as Detroit tried to come back. Detroit made 9 of 37 three-pointers and 14 of 24 free throws, according to ESPN team statistics.

AP said the Pistons beat the Knicks 121-90, 118-80 and 126-111 in 2025-26 and had won the last six regular-season meetings.

“Is it fixed? No. It ain’t fixed. Nothing’s really fixed,” Brown said, according to ESPN. “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 off of.”

Brunson told ESPN: “Just continue to hit singles. Just get on base and hit singles and focus on little things until we get our rhythm.”

The Knicks play at Chicago and the Pistons host Charlotte on Wednesday (US time), according to AP.

See also: Magic beat Knicks 111-102 as defending champions fall to 0-3 and Pistons come from 22 down to beat Celtics on opening night.