The Knicks hadn’t seen this version of Ausar Thompson yet. But he was key to keeping the Pistons alive.
Thompson delivered by far his best performance of the series and one of the best showings of his young career in the Knicks’ 106-103 loss to the Pistons on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. He finished with 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field along with seven rebounds and two blocks.
Known primarily for his defense, the 22 points marked a season high and tied his career high.
Entering Game 5, he was averaging just 7.5 points per game in the series. He more than doubled his previous high for the series.
“We were watching how they play and where they like to help from,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He’s one of those guys, because of his size and athleticism, he’s elite at finishing around the basket. Give his teammates credit, because he was assisted when his teammates were able to make plays, made the second read because of how they were defending us.”
Many of those second reads came from the Knicks blitzing Cade Cunningham when he had the ball. That effectively left the rest of the Pistons playing 4-on-3 on offense.
Thompson often occupied the dunker spot, providing him easy baskets around the rim.
“It helps us create an advantage when they do that,” Thompson said. “I’m super comfortable when they do it. I get excited.”
After being benched most of the fourth quarters in previous games in the series, Bickerstaff finally had the No. 5 overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft in for the majority of Tuesday’s fourth quarter.
Other than being subbed out for the one offensive possession, Thompson played the final 7:35.
And Thompson’s layup with 27.4 seconds left gave the Pistons a six-point lead and some breathing room down the stretch.
He finally got the better of Jalen Brunson on the defensive end as well.
Brunson finished with a series-low 16 points on rough 4-for-16 shooting.
By Thompson playing in the fourth quarter, Brunson was also not able to take over down the stretch, like he had in previous games.
“Ausar, from a mental standpoint, the want to, there’s not [many] more people out there that want to get a stop the way that he does,” Bickerstaff said. “Gifted athletically, he’s got great instincts. The fun part is he gets to see [Brunson] over and over and over again and then he grows every single game on understanding what’s the best way to defend him.”
