Brunson shrugged off an ankle injury that had him limping to the locker room in the third quarter to score 15 of his 32 points in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Karl-Anthony Towns made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 46.6 seconds left and finished with 27 points, Jalen Brunson had 32 points and 11 assists.

There was a lot of talk after the first two games of the Knicks being soft. Of them not matching the Pistons’ intensity, focus and physicality after they were outplayed for the most part in the first two contests of this best-of-seven, opening-round playoff series at the Garden.