Mike Brown Breaks Down What Went Wrong in Knicks Loss to Pistons

The Detroit Pistons came to Madison Square Garden on February 19th without Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart, both suspended. It was the third time the New York Knicks had faced the Pistons this season and each time, the Pistons had won. This one ended 126-111, and it wasn't really close after the third quarter.

Jalen Brunson put up 33 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 points and 11 rebounds. The individual numbers looked fine. The team's performance did not, and after the game, head coach Mike Brown made that very clear.

Detroit leads the Eastern Conference, so losing to them is not shocking. But dropping a home game to them without their two best bigs is a different kind of loss, and Mike Brown knew it.

He pointed to two specific areas that cost New York the game. Neither of them was about effort. Both of them were about execution, and both have shown up before this season.

Knicks' Three-Point Shooting Collapse Against the Pistons

Brown went straight to the three-point shooting first, according to NBA insider Kris Pursiainen.

"I thought in the 1st half, especially early on, we did a great job generating some wide open looks from the 3-point line. Just didn't go in tonight. For us to shoot 22, 23% from the three, 35 attempts, is uncharacteristic. You gotta give Detroit some credit though," Brown said.

Mike Brown:

"I thought in the 1st half, especially early on, we did a great job generating some wide open looks from the 3-point line. Just didn't go in tonight. For us to shoot 22, 23% from the three, 35 attempts, is uncharacteristic. You gotta give Detroit some credit though"
— Kris Pursiainen (@krispursiainen) February 20, 2026

That is 8-for-35 from deep. Brown's own words confirm the looks were good, which almost makes it worse. When shots were open and still were falling at that rate, the Knicks left points all over the floor, and Detroit made them pay for every single one.

Knicks' Rebounding Woes Despite Pistons Playing Without Their Centers

This is where the story gets harder to explain. Duren averages 10.4 rebounds per game and is one of the better offensive rebounders in the league. Stewart is a physical interior presence. Neither of them played. The Knicks still lost the second-chance battle.

Per Kristian Winfield, Brown said the Pistons' offensive rebounding was flat-out unacceptable, and there was no reason New York should have been that bad on the glass. Both teams finished with 11 offensive rebounds, but Detroit turned theirs into 19 second-chance points. The Knicks converted just 9. That gap alone can swing a game, and it did.

Mike Brown says the offensive rebounding for the Pistons was problematic via second chance opportunities. No reason Knicks should have been so bad on the glass tonight
— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) February 20, 2026

What Else Mike Brown Addressed After the Loss

The rebounding problem did not exist in isolation. Per James L. Edwards III, Brown was also direct about the pick-and-roll defense, specifically on Cade Cunningham.

"We don't want him to get to the middle of the floor and he got to the middle of the floor," he said.

Brown added that the team wasn't defending the pick-and-roll well enough, which gave Cunningham clean driving lanes all night.

Brown on Cade: “We don’t want him to get to the middle of the floor and he got to the middle of the floor.”

Said the team wasn’t defending the pick-and-roll great.
— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) February 20, 2026

On Towns, Brown said the offensive approach stayed the same in both halves, but KAT simply got more chances in the second.

Towns, however, pointed to something deeper after the game. He said "our offense is our offense," and that the system does not adjust regardless of the matchup. Brown made it sound like a minor timing issue. Towns was telling you it is built that way by design.

The Knicks host Houston next. The rebounding, the pick-and-roll defense, and a star center who scored two points in the first half against a frontcourt missing its two best bigs. Brown addressed all of it after the game. Whether the team actually fixes it is the real question.

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