NEW YORK – Detroit, they are coming back, which makes sense, as these young Pistons keep coming back at you.

Over and over. Again and again. 

Down 3-1 on the road at Madison Square Garden? You think that bothers them? The core of this team lost 28 games in a row a year ago. That was pressure. 

But this? 

THE GAME STORY: Detroit Pistons save season, shock MSG crowd with Game 5 win vs New York Knicks, 106-103

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

This is fun, as Cade Cunningham reminded after a brutal Game 4 loss at Little Caesars Arena. These are the playoffs. And who thought they’d be here anyway? 

Well, they did. 

Just as they thought they’d be back in Detroit for Game 6. Dismiss them at your peril. 

Not this night

Maybe they didn’t think they’d beat the New York Knicks like this, hanging onto the season by three points after the Knicks cut the Pistons six-point lead with 27 seconds left to a single point. 

And if not for a couple clutch free throws from Cade Cunningham, who knows? New York might have stolen Detroit’s heart again. 

Not this time. Not this night. 

Turns out J.B. Bickerstaff was right. Oh, he didn’t predict this, this 106-103 win to pull the Pistons to 3-2 in this first round series. But he hinted at it before the game. 

The Pistons coach said Game 5 was about how quickly his young team can learn and apply lessons, from one game to the next, or even quarter to quarter. 

They did. And showed it by not giving up a Knicks run or not getting outplayed in another fourth quarter.

Bickerstaff is learning along with his team. In the forever search for spacing, he’s put shooters on the floor down the stretch of the fourth quarter for much of this series instead of Ausar Thompson. In Game 1, that Thompson was in foul trouble, so that made sense. 

But in Game 5? 

This was Thompson’s game. Until it was Cunningham’s game, who shook off a tough shooting night and made the biggest 3-pointer of the game and those two critical free throws. 

He attacked the rim all fourth quarter and turned it over only once. He is learning, too. 

And did from the first half to the second half. 

In the first half? 

He picked up two early fouls – as did Jalen Duren. A couple of them cheap ones. Late in the second quarter, Cunningham fouled again. 

Bickerstaff gambled and kept Cunningham in the game until he subbed him out with two minutes left in the half. The Pistons needed his spacing – Dennis Schröder ran the offense. 

Yet Cunningham struggled in the first half. Fouls didn’t help, but those didn’t account for a few too many casual passes and a couple more unforced turnovers. 

At times he was patient, too, though, using the Knicks double-teams to get the ball to Duren near the free throw line, knowing the young big man would make the right read with the 4-on-3 advantage. 

Duren was everywhere

He often did, and Thompson was the beneficiary, cutting along the baseline toward the rim, taking Duren’s passes and dunking. 

Harris, meanwhile, got it going after he got scraped across the face when Duren’s arm came flying down as he tried to chase a rebound. Harris fell to the floor, threw his mouth guard, and needed a few minutes before getting back up. 

When play resumed, he hit a 3-pointer from the corner and followed with another jumper. Whatever pain he was feeling, he shook it off, and when Beasley hit a couple 3-pointers, the Pistons found enough to hang around despite Cunningham shooting 1-for-6 in the first half. 

They trailed by a point at the half and, as they did the first two games here at Madison Square Garden, jumped New York in the third quarter. Well, they didn’t jump as much as they slowly squeezed defensively, led by Thompson. 

If not for missed free throws, they would’ve built the lead to more than 10. But then just like the first two games here, the Knicks came back and cut the lead to three at the end of the quarter, setting up the fourth. 

No, not “the” fourth, but the fourth. The kind of fourth quarter Bickerstaff has been waiting for from his young team. The fourth these Pistons knew they had in them. 

They finally showed it. 

The season continues. 

Contact Shawn Windsor: [email protected]. Follow him @shawnwindsor.