Enough was enough.
The Knicks had enough of the hangover talk. Enough of the early-season panic. Enough of playing like a team that didn’t resemble the one that took over the city last year.
They broke out of their malaise and the champions finally reemerged.
An all-around defensive gem got them off the schneid and back in the win column — for the first time since clinching the title in Game 5 of the NBA Finals last year.
After dropping the first three games of the season, coach Mike Brown said “our crap stinks. It does.” Tuesday — particularly with how the Knicks defended — represented an air freshener of sorts.
The Knicks (1-3) woke up after a sleepy first quarter and imposed themselves on a previously undefeated — but short-handed without the injured Jalen Duren and Isaiah Joe — Pistons team with a 111-97 win at Madison Square Garden.
A year after the Knicks lost all three regular-season matchups — by a combined 84 points — against the Pistons, they landed the first blow in what was at times a chippy evening.
Another sluggish start meant the Knicks trailed by 13 heading into the second quarter. The Pistons were shooting 60.9 percent from the field and had 38 points — after the Knicks had given up 40 points in the fourth quarter in their loss to the Magic on Sunday. Paul Reed of all people was killing them and had 13 points.
The Knicks were in danger of making the worst type of history. They were already the first defending champions to start 0-3 since the 2011-12 Mavericks. Only one defending champion has started 0-4, and it hasn’t been done in 57 years — since the 1969-70 Celtics.
The Knicks clearly had no interest in becoming the second. They tightened the screws defensively and flipped the game on its head.
They held the Pistons to 3-for-21 shooting from the field and 1-for-11 shooting from deep in the second quarter. Jalen Brunson’s free throws right before halftime sent the Knicks into the break with a one-point lead.
And they promptly began the third quarter with an 11-0 run. Josh Hart’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the quarter gave the Knicks a 25-point lead heading into the fourth. The Pistons shot just 6-for-21 from the field and 1-for-10 from deep in that third quarter. Pistons superstar Cade Cunningham went a combined 3-for-10 from the field across those second and third quarters.
As a whole, the Pistons had just 25 points across the middle two quarters.
The Pistons cut their deficit to 11 points with 2:36 left in the game. But Hart responded with a 3-pointer that made sure it didn’t get any closer.
Karl-Anthony Towns took over on the offensive end in the third quarter, scoring 13 of his game-high 27 points, as the Knicks pulled away. He also had 19 rebounds. Mikal Bridges delivered his best showing of the year with 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting from 3-point range. Landry Shamet drilled three treys off the bench. Andre Drummond, after his benching Sunday, provided a nice spark with 10 points and eight rebounds in 14 minutes — and brought the MSG crowd to its feet with a putback dunk in the second quarter.
Reed was a nonfactor after his hot first quarter. He was given a flagrant foul for elbowing Towns in the head while fighting for a rebound and later picked up his fifth foul with 7:21 left in the third quarter.
It wasn’t a perfect Knicks performance, though. Brunson, Towns and OG Anunoby struggled in the 3-point department again, going a combined 2-for-16. Brunson’s shooting slump in particular continued as he finished 5-for-18 from the field and 0-for-5 from deep.
But he found 13 points from the free-throw line and got Ausar Thompson, who has guarded him the past three years in this matchup, into foul trouble all night. Brunson finished with 23 points and Thompson fouled out with 2:49 left in the game.
The Knicks will find low-hanging fruit in the Bulls as the second leg of a back-to-back Wednesday in Chicago. It’s the perfect opportunity to build off Tuesday’s showing and truly get this season on track.
Order has been restored.
