The Knicks had other issues in their Game 2 loss to the Detroit Pistons, but they were outshot 34-19 on free throws. Head coach Tom Thibodeau made a point of the “huge discrepancy” between Jalen Brunson and Cade Cunningham after Monday’s 100-94 defeat.
“He battled like crazy,” Thibodeau said of Brunson, who scored a game-high 37 points on 12-of-27 shooting and a 9-for-11 clip at the charity stripe. “There was some physicality. I want to take a look. Obviously, huge discrepancy in free throws — huge, huge. I’ve got to take a look at that, right? So I don’t understand how, on one side, you talk about the direct line drives — the guy’s getting fouled and it’s not being called, right?
“And look, I really don’t give a crap how they call the game as long as it’s consistent on both sides. So if Cunningham’s driving and there’s marginal contact and he’s getting to the line, then Jalen deserves to be getting to the line. It’s really that simple.”
Cunningham led the Pistons with 33 points on 11-of-21 shooting and a 10-for-12 mark at the line.
“He was elite,” said Detroit head coach J.B. Bickerstaff about Cunningham. “You know what I mean? He is a superstar, and he played the game tonight as a superstar. He did what he needed to do to help his team win. He understood how aggressive he needed to be on the offensive end of the floor, so he was going to go out and be aggressive. He also understood how important finishing possessions was, and he had 11 defensive rebounds.
“That’s knowing and understanding how to manipulate the game but how to make winning plays, whatever your team needs in the moment.”
The Knicks will now turn the page to Game 3 in Detroit with a 1-1 series entering Thursday’s 7 p.m. start.
“It’s the playoffs,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, who finished with 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting and did not attempt a free throw. “Can’t be worried about free-throw disparity and all that stuff. We’ve got to go out there and play physical and not worry about that. If we let that creep into our minds, it becomes contagious.”
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