Towns scores 31, Brunson has 30 and Knicks beat Pistons 118-116 for a 2-1 lead in series

Karl-Anthony Towns was aggressive early and Jalen Brunson was effective late.

Towns scored 11 of his 31 points in the first quarter and Brunson had 12 of his 30 in the fourth to help the New York Knicks hold on for a 118-116 win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.

“I thought the way we started the game was much better,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “And, we made timely plays down the stretch.”

Game 4 is on Sunday in Detroit.

The Pistons have lost eight straight home playoff games since 2008, pulling within one of an NBA record set by Philadelphia from 1968 to 1971.

When Detroit won at New York in Game 2, the franchise ended a league-record, 15-playoff game losing streak to take home-court advantage, but the Knicks snatched it back.

Brunson, who won the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year award on Wednesday, made consecutive layups late in the game to give the Knicks a seven-point lead.

Brunson made one of two free throws with 3.5 seconds left for a four-point lead after Detroit’s coaches, players and fans were screaming for an over-and-back violation to be called.

“If you catch the ball, have possession and put it down, to me, that’s possession in the front court,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.

Brunson made another free throw with 0.5 seconds left and after missing the second intentionally, the Pistons were given the ball in front of their bench after the buzzer sounded prematurely.

“It doesn’t seem right to me,” Thibodeau said. “It’s unfortunate. That should never happen in a playoff game.”

Detroit, though, didn’t get a final shot off because Jalen Duren’s pass from in front of his team’s bench went out of bounds on the other side of the court.

Towns, a 7-foot center, made 4-of-8 3-pointers after combining to shoot 1 of 5 beyond the arc over the first two games.

“He bounced back,” Thibodeau said. “He can score a lot of different ways and he used his versatility to his strength.”

Detroit’s Cade Cunningham scored 24 points and had 11 assists, but missed 15 of 25 shots and had six turnovers.

Tim Hardaway Jr. had 24 points, making a career playoff-high seven 3-pointers. Dennis Schroder scored 18 points and Duren had 16 for the Pistons.

OG Anunoby scored 22 points and Mikal Bridges added 20 points for the Knicks.

New York led 33-27 after an emotionally charged opening quarter and was ahead 66-53 at halftime.

The Pistons pulled within one point twice in the third, but the Knicks went on another surge to take a 10-point lead into the final quarter and the cushion was comfortable enough to hold off Detroit’s attempts to rally.

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