Knicks Outscore Detroit 21-3 in Tolu Smith's 6 Minutes and Hand the Pistons Their First Loss

Photo: NBA.com. Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks center, official NBA headshot.

Josh Hart hit a 25-foot three at the third-quarter buzzer on Tuesday night to finish a 12-2 run with Tolu Smith at center for Detroit, and New York carried an 88-63 lead into the fourth on its way to a 111-97 win over the previously unbeaten Pistons at Madison Square Garden. Detroit won the 42 minutes Tolu Smith sat by four points and lost his six minutes 21-3 (by our count).

Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 20 rebounds, and the defending champions avoided becoming the second title team in NBA history to start 0-4, per the AP. Most of the 14-point margin came in two short stints by Detroit's third center.

Where the 14 points went

The table splits the game by who played center for Detroit, using the substitutions in the ESPN play-by-play. The minutes and scores are our count.

| Detroit center | Minutes | Pistons | Knicks | Margin | |---|---|---|---|---| | Paul Reed | 25:40 | 62 | 55 | DET +7 | | No true center (John Collins and smaller) | 16:19 | 32 | 35 | NYK +3 | | Tolu Smith | 6:01 | 3 | 21 | NYK +18 |

Reed's plus-7 and Smith's minus-18 match the official box. With Reed on the floor, Detroit won. With Collins as the biggest player, the game was close to even, and that line includes a fourth-quarter bench run when the game was already out of reach. With Smith, it fell apart.

In Smith's six minutes, Detroit went 1 of 10 from the field, 0 of 6 from three and 1 of 6 at the line, with three turnovers, by our count. Smith had four fouls, a missed tip, 1-of-4 free throws and four rebounds in that time, per the box. New York shot 5 of 10 and made 8 of 12 free throws.

Two stints, two runs

Smith's first stint started with 6:24 left in the second quarter and Detroit up 42-34. Reed had picked up his second foul at 7:05. By the time Smith left at 4:22, the score was 43-43. Two of his fouls in that stretch were loose-ball fouls, and Landry Shamet made all four free throws that came from them.

The second stint was the 12-2 run that closed the third quarter, the one the AP recap points to. Smith checked in with 3:59 left and Detroit down 76-61. Andre Drummond caught an alley-oop from Jalen Brunson on New York's first trip. Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and missed the tip, then fouled Brunson on a drive. Later he missed both free throws after Drummond fouled him. Detroit scored one basket in the stint, a Daniss Jenkins jumper, and Hart's buzzer three made it 88-63.

Drummond played all 6:01 of Smith's minutes, per the substitution log. He finished with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting and eight rebounds in 14 minutes, and was plus-15. The Knicks won the backup-center matchup by 18 points, and that was more than the final margin.

Why Smith was out there

Smith only played because Reed kept getting whistled. Reed had three fouls in the first half. With 8:30 left in the third, he was called for a Flagrant 1 after a tie-up with Towns, which was his fourth, per MLive. J.B. Bickerstaff left him in. He picked up his fifth on a loose-ball foul at 7:21 with Detroit down 66-56, and he sat until 5:24 remained in the game.

Reed told MLive that Towns had been grabbing him before the flagrant. Bickerstaff called the whistle "extremely frustrating" and said Detroit plays "physical within the rules." The Pistons were called for 28 fouls to New York's 23, and Brunson drew 13 of them, per MLive.

The fouls shaped the Knicks' adjustment too. Mike Brown said he told Towns at halftime that Reed was "killing us on the glass," per ESPN. Reed scored 16 points in the first half and 6 in the second. Towns went from 8 to 19, by our count from the play-by-play.

The Duren math gets harder

The Dyme's Oct. 25 Take on Jalen Duren's hamstring said the starting spot was the smaller worry and the real question was who plays center when Reed sits. Tuesday answered it. Reed is plus-29 in four games, by our count from the ESPN box scores (plus-12, plus-4, plus-6 and plus-7). Smith has played about 11 minutes across three games and is minus-20.

Duren will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the team said Oct. 25, which puts the check around the Nov. 8 Lakers game on the ESPN schedule. A re-evaluation is not a return date. Until then, Detroit has two ways to cover center when Reed sits: play Collins as the biggest player, which held at minus-3 on Tuesday, or play Smith, which has not held in any of his three appearances.

What New York got out of it

For the Knicks, Drummond is the bench answer Detroit doesn't have. He was plus-15 in 14 minutes in the game where Towns was minus-3 in 33. Mikal Bridges hit four threes, his first of the season, per the AP. New York won the second and third quarters 63-25.

Brown said the team is not fixed yet, per ESPN. The Knicks play at Chicago on Wednesday.

Wednesday in Detroit

The Pistons host Charlotte on Wednesday night, the second game of a back-to-back, per MLive and the ESPN schedule. Collins played 27 minutes on Tuesday and had 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting with nine rebounds and three blocks, per the box. Reed played 25:40. Duren will be re-evaluated in two weeks from Oct. 25, per the team, which puts the check around the Nov. 8 Lakers game on the ESPN schedule.

Sources

• ESPN: Knicks 111, Pistons 97 box score. Player minutes, plus-minus and foul totals for every player.
• ESPN: Knicks 111, Pistons 97 play-by-play. Substitution times and possession detail behind the lineup splits.
• NBA.com: Pistons vs. Knicks game summary and AP recap. Oct. 27, 2026. Second defending champion to start 0-4 (1969-70 Celtics), 37-13 third quarter, 12-2 finish on Hart's buzzer three, Bridges' first four threes.
• ESPN: Knicks 'focus on little things,' beat Pistons for first win of season. Oct. 28, 2026. Mike Brown's halftime message to Towns, his "it ain't fixed" answer and the 63-25 middle quarters.
• MLive: Pistons unhappy with foul discrepancy vs. Knicks. Oct. 28, 2026. Reed's flagrant as his fourth foul and his fifth a minute later. Brunson drew 13 fouls. Quotes from Reed and Bickerstaff.
• MLive: Pistons go ice cold at MSG, take first loss to Knicks. Oct. 27, 2026. Reed's foul trouble early in the second half and the back-to-back with Charlotte.
• ESPN: Pistons at Heat box score, Oct. 23 and Pistons at 76ers box score, Oct. 25. Reed's and Smith's minutes and plus-minus in Miami and Philadelphia.
• ESPN: Pistons 2026-27 schedule. Charlotte on Wednesday, Lakers on Nov. 8.
• The Dyme: Jalen Duren will be re-evaluated in two weeks, and Detroit's hole is behind Paul Reed's plus-16. Oct. 25, 2026. Duren's hamstring timeline and Reed's opening-week numbers.

Figures marked "by our count" are the desk's own math from the linked ESPN box scores and play-by-play.