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Select 2025 Playoff Thread: Knicks @ Pistons, Game 3 – Only a Fool in Here Would Think he’s Got Anything to Prove

The Knicks head to Detroit, and they shouldn’t need to feel like they need to prove anything, they just need to get the job done in Detroit. Win at least one, and they’re back in control of the series, winning two would be even nicer.

If they win tonight, they can pretty easily shut down any possible negative narrative about this series, so they should just do that.

Let’s go, Knicks!

15 more wins to go!

The Dylan tune is “Things Have Changed,” the Oscar-winning song from The Wonder Boys soundtrack.

371 replies on “Select 2025 Playoff Thread: Knicks @ Pistons, Game 3 – Only a Fool in Here Would Think he’s Got Anything to Prove”

Brunson is too smart, I’d bet on him trying to involve his teammates more, at least in the first half.

LET’S GO KNICKS!

This is a blowout loss coming:

-Zarba always fucks us
-Thibs has no answer for C on Hart and wing on KAT or we’d have seen it by now
-KAT every bit the playoff choker we thought Randle was
-We’re slow and small. We look old.
-We suck at guarding the 3 and their shooters are due for a big night at home
-Cade is the actual best player in the series

Pistons in 5 will shock everyone but Pags

You know what would be cool? One of those statement games where we blow the doors off someone like we’ve done a few times this year. Like Knicks by 33.

Pistons in 5 will shock everyone but Pags

And then when you’re wrong, you’ll still keep coming back here and posting stupid shit like this, because what you do here isn’t actual basketball discussion. You do an obnoxious shtick. It’s the one trait that unifies all of the shittiest posters in KB history: doing a shtick instead of participating in discussion.

Even if you’re “right” this time, you’re still a troll and you will always suck.

I like motivated Towns. He’s gonna own this city, Mo-Towns if you will

Detroit complaining about screens is a joke

It made me laugh out loud so it literally was.

I loved how they attacked Cade with that OG cut.

Also love KAT setting so many screens.

Hardaway typically alternates between really sucky games and good games so this isn’t that surprising

Knicks dominating early on and 3 absolutely fucking stupid defensive possessions pisses it all away…

Almost every Knicks fan watching KAT right now: “that’s what I’m talking about!”

Bob: “No, you should be in the post!!”

I’m glad we swapped out KAT’s shitty identical twin from Monday for the real guy

Matching their energy with good rotations by Thibs
Moving the ball and we’ll be fine

Knicks losing this series because they’re get torched by veteran retreads is something.

Why not put towns back in here?

There you go

Edit: maybe? Not sure what foul call is coming

I’m loving the Knicks’ energy, but I’m also stunned by how well the Pistons took the punch, ya know?

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I wonder how many times Miller can say “playoffs” or “playoffs basketball” in a single broadcast.

Holy crap, that ref really is on the take

Reed instigates, the one player without a T

I’m loving the Knicks’ energy, but I’m also stunned by how well the Pistons took the punch, ya know?

Same. Pistons are good.

Ugly call on the technical, rewarding the instigator is so bad.

We should try at all cost to avoid the game to morph into a free for all.

Harris looked like he knew he fouled KAT, what an awful challenge by Detroit but great for us since now they’re out of challenges.

Curious if Pistons players will keep asking Bickerstaff to challenge, to pressure the refs. Because they can’t do it from now on.

feels like every time the ball starts rolling and bouncing around the court the pistons find a way to pick it up…

pistons came to play – again…

Brunson broke his self imposed Kobe strike and it immediately paid off… for the Pistons

Can we try putting a smaller defender on Hardaway to get him to stop shooting threes?

Detroit being carried by older players who have no future with them is super annoying.

That was a horrible decision by Brunson but hopefully the challenge bails him out. Also Bridges has been great on the defensive end tonight.

We’re winning the challenge war – one really stupid, one smart

And Thompson bumps guys all over the court

Odd explanation for the overturn, but ok.

Would love if we continue to play like we won’t get any calls. Mostly not foul hunting tonight.

yep 2 stls and a block by mikal in first half = good needs to score more but like the 5 bounds

og is playing hard and has made some nice plays but holy shit has he had a spastic half

That was such an awesome end to the half. Fuck off, Detroit!

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I’d it weren’t for hot games from ancient vets (Schroeder, Hardaway) we’d be crushing them. This is more like it.

The good news is if we can get rid of those six KAT 3PAs and just turn them into offense-stopping post ups in the second half we might be able to turn this into a 2 pt win.

Now we need them to not relax, they have to keep the same intensity until the end.

thought we were clamoring for kat to take more 3s

hunter to browns carter to jints

TNT guys all over the Pistons, no credit to the Knicks.

Guess I shouldn’t be surprised

Keep the STOCKS up! Great fight and mental focus on defense, and unselfishness on offense. Need to stay focused on Schroeder, hardaway and Beasley behind the line in the 2nd half

Giants manage not to f*ck up their first pick, and the Knicks end the half strong, with a healthy lead. I’m on a flight back to the U.K. from Washington and really need to go to sleep. So what do I wake up to… epic knicks collapse and the giants trading all their picks this year and next to take Sanders in the top ten, or an easy knicks win and giants keep their powder dry for tomorrow?

41 bench minutes for Detroit vs 24 for Knicks. Not trying to be minutes police here but in a game this intense it might behoove Thibs to make sure his guys aren’t exhausted by the end.

Only deuce was objectively bad. Shamet didn’t do much and Robinson and Cam gave good minutes

I forgot how horrible the Knicks start 2nd halves when they have a big lead at halftime…

Wait too long to make adjustments and I. have no idea what the hell is going on at halftime.

I’d have put in Payne for Brunson

KAT bringing it tonight – just about everyone except Brunson, really

KAT moved 50% faster on that move than I have ever seen him move before, possibly

Let’s be honest, Jalen Brunson is playing like shit.

Edit: now wait for him to score 45.

I thought the 3rd quarter of doom was a thing of the past, but I guess not.

Hoping Clutch Player of the Year shows up in the 4th quarter because he’s been garbage so far.

Have we been actively getting KAT switched onto Duren or did Detroit just abandon their plan? I keep seeing KAT blow by him but haven’t noticed how the matchup came about.

I feel like we got lucky Towns didn’t pick up his 4th during those few minutes

@Hubert,

probably they changed assignment because Harris is (and was) in foul trouble.

jalen needs to attack those mitch screens hard and use the roll as a real threat

Just turned it on, not sure how the Knicks scored 91 pts on this defense so far, it looks hard core

I hear some Deuce from the crowd.

He’s like our version of Darryl Johnston on the 90s Cowboys

It’s a little too much Mitch 1.0. You grew beyond that kind of block-hunting, bruh…

Every starter playing great except Brunson, which actually bodes well for the 4th quarter. Big minutes coming up for Deuce and Payne.

Pistons played hard pressing D at the last mins of the 3rd
We seemed gassed
Thankfully the shots went in

Schroeder is on that list with Trae – just kind of want to punch him

Brunson forget all the shit I said about you the first 3 quarters just take us home in the 4th and all is forgiven.

we found the antonym to stockton to malone and it’s og to mitch

Lol

We looked terrible without Jalen there. No idea what the offense was supposed to be doing.

This is a good time for Jalen to take over. He hasn’t been beaten up all game because he’s been letting the other guys carry the load. He’s played a good game overall.

Thibs was sleeping during the 3rd but now he’s making substitutions faster than the speed of light

Knicks offense when they are trying to protect a lead is fucking atrocious.

Fucking Schroeder. He never misses

He did when he turned down that contract from the Lakers

Man I was worried that the clutch in layer of the year award would jinx Brunson and it seems to be the case.

Schröder is such an interesting case study. As a PG, his career is millimeters from that big contract. Guys miss shots when he passes to them that Nash would have gotten made. That’s life.

Kat or Brunson should be taking every single shot the rest of the game.

We gotta keep KAT and figure out how to get the best out of him. Truly special on offense.

That wide open 3 by Hardaway would have been talked about a lot tomorrow if it went in.

Another crappy game from Jalen… 26 points on 20 shots, 9 assists, 7 boards, 1 TO

Z-mansays:
April 21, 2025 at 22:12
KAT stans? Anything?

Yeah maybe a little sumthin’.

Oy, Bridges wins the tip on a second effort and taps it right to Timmy who hits a 3. Damn.

Nothing easy. Feels like a poker hand where they turn four outs out of nowhere.

Credit to the Pistons. They compete.

Knicks have to be the worst team in protecting a lead with under a minute left.

I think Breen is right: that’s not over and back. Are they saying otherwise on TNT?

KAT et al. deserve the bulk of the credit for showing the fuck up in a major way, but I’m also tipping my cap to Thibs tonight. Seems like he genuinely adjusted!

Brunson looking at Thibs for advice and coach just standing there with a blank face as if he’s not allowed to say anything.

I drank two beers to drown out this stupid draft, looked up to see this game wasn’t over(?!?)

They really do handle the end of games terribly. Like, hilariously so.

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That’s some excellent work by the buzzer guy to get them a side out

No such thing as a bad road playoff win

Celebrate boys, we deserved this one

And yeah, eat shit Pags

The timekeeper blew the buzzer and they earn a chance to win?
This is fucking crazy…
And they threw the ball away! FUCK DETROIT!

that was a great win overshadowed by the most annoying end of a game in nba history

That “clock malfunction” was so wildly advantageous to the Pistons if disaster struck I would’ve been apoplectic.

Onwards.

Only the 2025 Knicks can make such a huge, tough, gritty road playoff win feel so frustrating in the end. But nonetheless great fucking win!

Crucial win and all the starters played well.
Sharing the load on offense for three quarters kept Brunson a little fresher and he was a rock in the fourth.

Next fight is Sunday.

Really thought that was going to bite us just because there’s always some bullshit like that in the playoffs.

Detroit is young, hungry and coached well, but it’s an embarrassment that we are struggling with these pretenders.

At least the ball moved a bit better at times.

What’s to stop home teams doing a “malfunction” each time that scenario comes up? Ridiculous decision. Lucky that didn’t end up costing us…

It’s clear Detroit’s plan is to be as physical as possible and their success is tied to whether the refs call their fouls or not. It’s like in soccer when a team constantly fouls an offensive team to get them off their rhythm and hope to score an a counterattack (in this case get hot from 3).

I thought we played well tonight and if it weren’t for the ridiculous 3 point shooting from Detroit, it would’ve been a blowout. I think we still need contributions from the bench cuz we’ll need special moments from them (see Payne Game 1)

A very stressful win but any road win in the playoffs is the same as a 10-15 point win at home. They actively looked for Towns and Towns actively sought out the ball. That was the main adjustment. KAT def has the strongest advantage in this series he should be the number 1 option for this series, period

Detroit is young, hungry and coached well, but it’s an embarrassment that we are struggling with these pretenders.

Oh come on! It’s the fucking playoffs and the Pistons are good. Give this shit a rest.

I read this entire thread with 0.5 seconds on the clock.

ELAM ENDING NOW PLEASE

They like to complicate things a little, but i think it was a great effort and we got the W, and that’s what really matters. On to the next.

I had to go to a two hour talk on kids and puberty so missed the first three quarters

If anyone needs tips google Less Awkward.

The woman giving the talk I believe is Nick Krolls sister and she was tremendous.

Btw can the media please stop with the “Cade might be the best player in this series” crap?

The pistons are not pretenders, give them their respect. They have a bunch of two way players, are deep and have three or four players that can go supernova hot from three, and play tough defense. A win on the road in the playoffs is impressive no matter what, let’s see what the cavs, Celtics and thunder do on the road….

This team is better served in the long run for struggling to overcome this good, tough, physical Pistons team. I don’t want to sound like Pat Riley or even John Locke talking about moths but sometimes the struggle is helpful. We’re not the Thunder. We’re not gonna beat the Celtics with talent. We need this crucible before we play them. KAT was fucking garbage three days ago and look what he did tonight. We learned from it. Better now than later.

Detroit isn’t that young. They only play 3 young players, 4 if you count Holland, the rest are veteran retreads who are mostly killing the Knicks so far.

This was the first game of the series we deserved to win. We were the better team and showed some of the tenacity we were missing so much this season. The reason the score was close has to do with that we could not break their will and belief when we had a good lead. No killer instinct! Our overall good but inconsistent defense was letting the Pistons back in the game at those critical stretches, e.g., the first five minutes of the third quarter when they were constantly attacking the paint, the middle of the fourth, and so on. Tim – fluke- Hardaway catching fire in the first half also had to do with it.

It was a good team win, a deserved win, and a much improved performance. Good enough to win though we can play a lot better.

Grizzlies are frisky and up a bunch.

Think I still like OKC though. Which is strange

Oh come on! It’s the fucking playoffs and the Pistons are good. Give this shit a rest.

No they aren’t. If they played in the west I’m not so sure they would have made the play in.

They have two starters, Harris and Hardaway, that their prior teams couldn’t get rid of fast enough.

They have a really nice young core, but Duren is nowhere near the player Towns is at this stage.

Thompson is not as skilled as either of our wings at this stage.

Cunningham is not as good Brunson at this stage.

They do have a better bench, but bench is less important in the playoffs.

They have a bright future, especially with Ivey also being a good prospect, but they are not an elite defensive team now and we have massively more talent on offense.

This is supposed to be a sweep or you give them one game if we just happened to shoot terrible from 3 or vice versa. We are not supposed to struggle with a team with way less talent and way less experience.

a team with way less talent and way less experience

You might want to check the experience column again. Hardaway, Harris, Schroeder, Beasley, and Reed are not spring chickens. And Duren, Cade, Thompson are pretty damn talented.

This Pistons team is like us in the ‘23 playoffs.

Strat, they beat the knicks 3 times, Houston, Celtics and Cleveland this season, they’ve won 61% of their games since early Feb. They play well as a team, we should hopefully beat them but they’ve shown in this series they’re a good team. We just won on the road, can we be positive for just a little bit ?

If any team has been embarrassing tonight it’s mighty OKC.

They are still young. They are not out of this one yet. I don’t expect this to be a blow out. They will come back.

I had to go to a two hour talk on kids and puberty so missed the first three quarters

i have never seen al bundy münchausen syndrome progress this rapidly

I might be way off but is this the first time 2 Knicks have scored 30 pts in a playoff game since Houston and Spree in 1999?

Trolling by the angry and very unsober aside, KAT certainly earned his $50M AAV tonight. That Melo-style fadeaway was immense. Couple of good defensive plays too. I mean, that should be a given for this series, shouldn’t it? He’s primarily being guarded by Tobias Harris.

I might be way off but is this the first time 2 Knicks have scored 30 pts in a playoff game since Houston and Spree in 1999?

yep and only the 4th ever. jalen also hit 30 for the 14th time only 4 behind patrick for the knick all time record.

I switched to that game late in the second and can’t have a clear understanding — OKC granite defense giving up 77 points in the first half? Wtf? Wow!

Last time the Giants drafted a QB from Ole Miss it worked out pretty well.

Giants making their move

Don’t like it. They needed that 3rd round pick. But this is on Mara. He demanded a QB so Schoen had to get him one.

But this move notwithstanding, for all the shit he’s gotten in the media, Schoen has actually had a great 12 months, imho.

He had a spectacular draft last year and got Burns.

The Barkley thing hurt when he went to the Eagles but it made sense. You’re going to win 5-6 games with Saquon. There’s no way you get a guy like Carter if he’s your RB.

I would have been happy with Sanders at 6 overall. Crazy that he’s falling this far.

Good call, Al. I thought it was the 65th pick they traded. It’s the 99th.

Let’s hope Daboll’s assessment of Dart over Sanders is correct.

So in the last two drafts the Giants have come away with Nabers and Carter, arguably the two best non QBs in both drafts. Nubin, Phillips, and Tracey were great picks. They made the Burns trade. And now they got the QB prospect they want at a reasonable price?

I think that’s excellent work.

But does this buy Daboll and Schoen a couple of extra years to show if they’re right about Dart?

I hope so, Al. Mara’s expectations are stupid. I know you can’t tank in football but winning 3 games last year is exactly what needed to happen. They’ve built a really good defense. They probably need one more draft but I think they’re doing good.

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