DETROIT — Warts and injuries, inconsistency and defensive shortcomings, it doesn’t matter at the moment.
The Knicks are moving on.
Despite blowing a 15-point second-quarter lead, despite choking away an 11-point, fourth-quarter edge, the Knicks found a way in crunch time to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third consecutive season.
Jalen Brunson’s dagger of a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left sent Tom Thibodeau’s team to a wild 116-113 series-clinching victory over the Pistons on Thursday at a stunned Little Caesars Arena.
Brunson’s crossover at the top of the key left dogged Pistons defender Ausar Thompson sliding several feet to his left and he calmly sank the 3-pointer that capped an 11-1 run over the final 2:23.
The Pistons turned it over at the other end of the floor with a chance to tie.
The Knicks-Celtics series will start Monday night in Boston.
It was a stunning fourth quarter, one in which the Pistons turned a 11-point deficit into a seven-point edge. Brunson willed the Knicks back with five straight points. Mikal Bridges pulled them even with a tip-in with 35.8 seconds to go, and after a stop, Brunson sent the Pistons into the offseason.
On a bum right ankle, Brunson finished with 40 points and seven assists, Bridges added 25 points and OG Anunboy had 22. Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 23 points and eight assists.
The first quarter was arguably the Knicks’ best of the series. The second was one of their worst.
The Knicks led by 14 after one, but trailed by two at the break after getting gashed for 38 points in a defenseless second quarter.
Malik Beasley hit five 3-pointers in the period, including one to beat the buzzer from just in front of the Detroit bench. In the quarter, the Pistons made 14 of 23 shots and turned a 15-point deficit into a lead.
The Knicks grew stagnant offensively, relying too heavily on isolation ball, and they paid for it.
Five turnovers in the quarter hurt, and the Pistons woke up the large crowd that had been silenced.
They piled up 15 transition points.
Despite the bad ankle, Brunson still performed, scoring 20 first-half points to go with four assists. An active Anunoby had 13 points and three 3-pointers, though most of that damage came in the opening quarter.
At halftime, the Knicks came out early for layup lines, a move Bridges suggested after Game 5 to cure their third-quarter issues. It did the trick.
The Knicks outscored the Pistons, 15-6, to start the period and held a seven-point lead after a deep Brunson 3-pointer.
It ballooned to 13 after a ferocious Bridges left-handed dunk over Cunningham in transition.
The difference was 11 entering the fourth quarter after Brunson and Bridges combined for 21 points in the period and the Knicks held the Pistons without a made 3-pointer on seven attempts.
The lead felt safe. Halfway through the fourth quarter, it was a toss-up after a 13-0 Pistons run got them the lead with 5:31 to go.
Thibodeau used two timeouts during the spurt.
The first one didn’t change anything. The second didn’t, either.
Karl-Anthony Towns threw the ball away and Cunningham scored to give Detroit the lead.
The Pistons then challenged a foul on a Brunson drive and the crowd chanted “Flop-per, flop-per” at Brunson before and after the review. The call was changed.
But Brunson had the last laugh, ending the Pistons’ season with his clutch 3-pointer.
