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Tom Thibodeau Sends Strong Message Before Pistons-Knicks Game 5

The No. 3 seed New York Knicks hold a 3-1 series lead over the No. 6 seed Detroit Pistons heading into Tuesday night's Game 5 matchup at Madison Square Garden.

After splitting the first two games of the series in New York, the Knicks won back-to-back games in Detroit by a combined three points. Led by a 32-point, 11-assist game from point guard Jalen Brunson, Tom Thibodeau's squad notched a 94-93 win over the home-team Pistons in Game 4.

Thibodeau believes his squad will need to put forth a united effort if they want to close out the series at home on Tuesday night.

"We all have to have the belief in each other. You have to trust each other and you have to work together. It's not about the individual, it's about the group," Thibodeau said before Game 5.

The Knicks have five players averaging double-digit points through the first four games of their first-round series: Brunson (33.3), Karl-Anthony Towns (22.8), OG Anunoby (15.8), Mikal Bridges (13.8) and Josh Hart (10.8).

Brunson suffered an apparent injury late in the third quarter of Sunday's Game 4 win over the Pistons. But after a short stint in the locker room, the All-Star point guard returned to the court for the fourth quarter.

Nov 20, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau with guard Jalen Brunson (11) against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center.

"Moments like that you’ve got to take a breath, you’ve got to relax and think about what’s going on," Brunson said after the game. "I realized that I just needed to re-adjust and make sure I was mentally ready to go back into the game, because I was going back into the game. There really wasn’t a doubt, regardless of if I was stumbling or not."