Jalen Brunson said the New York Knicks switched their focus onto the "little things" in order to snap their winless start to their NBA season against the Detroit Pistons. 

Following defeats to the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, the Knicks finally got their campaign up and running with a 111-97 victory on Tuesday. 

Karl-Anthony Towns led the reigning champions with 27 points and 20 rebounds, while Brunson chipped in with 23 points, 13 of which were free throws for New York.

Andre Drummond also played a key role off the bench, with the Knicks outscoring the Pistons by 15 in his 14 minutes. He finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

"Just continue to hit singles," Brunson said after the win at Madison Square Garden. "Just get on base and hit singles and focus on little things until we get our rhythm."

New York's best spell came in the two middle quarters, outscoring Detroit 63-25, looking more like the Knicks team that impressed during the playoffs last season.

"We had more good moments in this game in totality than we did in the first three games, and that's why we got the win," Knicks head coach Mike Brown added.

"Our awareness, our level of physicality on [Detroit's shooters] was a lot better than the previous game."

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Towns' 27 points and 20 rebounds was the 14th time he scored at least 25 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, this instance being the fourth time he has done it for the Knicks. 

"I thought we did a good job of picking up our intensity and our physicality," Towns said of his display.

"I said before the game for us to win this, we have to be the best version of ourselves and not worry about everything else that's going on." 

Cade Cunningham just missed a triple-double for the Pistons, finishing with 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. 

And while New York got themselves off the mark for the season, Brown acknowledged there was further need to improve if they are to replicate their heroics from last season.

"Is it fixed? No. it ain't fixed. Nothing's really fixed," Brown added.

"What the win shows us is we're more than capable if we put our minds to it, and that's what we got to continue to try to build off of."