Hours before Game 5, Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham was asked how he would sum up his first postseason series thus far.
“I wouldn’t sum it up yet,” Cunningham replied before facing a Knicks team that sought to close out the series.
That proved to be a wise response.
Cunningham scored 13 points in the fourth quarter of his Pistons’ 106-103 win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, staving off elimination for at least two more days.
The best-of-seven first-round playoff series now heads back to Detroit with the Knicks up, 3-2.
Cunningham put the Pistons up, 92-90, with a pair of free throws at the 5:01 mark of the fourth quarter, then drilled a 3-pointer less than a minute later.
His driving floater expanded the Pistons’ lead to six points with under two minutes to go.
Cunningham finished with a game-high 24 points, shaking off a rough first half in which he managed only four points on 2-of-8 shooting.
The Pistons needed every one of his points.
Mikal Bridges cut the Knicks’ deficit to 103-100 with a 3-pointer with 25.1 seconds remaining, and OG Anunoby closed the gap to 104-103 with 5.7 seconds left with a 3-pointer of his own.
But Cunningham made two free throws to pad the Pistons’ lead.
Bridges scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Jalen Brunson finished with a series-low 16 points on 4-of-16 shooting – and scored only three points on 1-of-4 shooting in the fourth quarter – in his first game without at least 30 points in the series.
Brunson and Josh Hart were both banged up in the fourth quarter and checked out with 2:57 to go. They did not return until there were 27 seconds remaining.
The Knicks had erased a 10-point deficit in the third quarter with a 20-8 run that gave them the first of several fourth quarter leads, but it wasn’t enough to put away do-or-die Detroit.
Hanging over Game 5 was the controversial finish to the Knicks’ 94-93 win in Game 4, which ended with Hart getting away with contact on Tim Hardaway Jr. on a 3-point attempt in the waning seconds.
The NBA said in its Last Two Minutes Report that Hart should have been called for a shooting foul, deeming the non-call to be incorrect.
After calling only 34 fouls in Game 4, the referees officiated Game 5 much more tightly.
They called 51 fouls on Tuesday, with Cunningham and Ausar Thompson attempting 12 free throws apiece and Brunson shooting 10.
And there was much more referee drama on Tuesday.
In the second quarter, Tobias Harris was not called for a goaltend on a Bridges lay-up attempt. Harris was credited with a block despite contacting the ball after it touched the backboard.
In the third quarter, Ausar Thompson got away with a travel as he collected the ball in transition, earning rapturous boos from a sellout Garden crowd.
That missed call drew the ire of Brunson, who picked up a technical foul for arguing.
And in the fourth quarter, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was called for a technical foul for arguing after his challenge on a Harris foul against Karl-Anthony Towns was upheld. Towns made all three free throws to tie the game, 81-81.
Brunson managed only six points on 1-of-7 shooting in the first half and uncharacteristically missed three of his seven free throw attempts.
He did not make his first field goal until he drilled a stepback 14-footer with 1:10 left before halftime. Still, the Knicks led 50-49 at the break thanks to balanced contributions from their supporting cast.
Mitchell Robinson gave the Knicks 13 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks off the bench.
Game 5 continued a series fraught with drama.
Four of the games have been decided by six points or fewer.
Four of them featured at least one fourth-quarter lead change.
And the Knicks have outscored the Pistons by only five points over the course of the series.
The series now heads back to Detroit, where Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.
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