Photo gallery: Detroit Pistons vs. New York Knicks at the Palace

Pistons forward-center Greg Monroe reacts to a fourth-quarter call.

(Melanie Maxwell | MLive.com)

AUBURN HILLS -- The first victory of the season came with a warning for the Detroit Pistons: Last year wasn't so long ago and the negative habits sharpened during years of losing doesn't just vanish with a new head coach.

In a game reminiscent of so many they let get away last year, the Pistons built an 18-point second half lead Wednesday, then gasped and panted their way to a 98-95 win over the New York Knicks at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The Pistons put Carmelo Anthony on ice defensively. They dominated the rebounding and free-throw statistics, made their most 3-pointers of the season, and generally controlled the game.

Then came the final four minutes, which began with the Pistons leading by 13 points and ended with them clinging to the lead and counting down the final seconds.

"It got a little scary toward the end," Pistons guard Brandon Jennings said. "You never want to be up 18 and have to have a scare toward the end of the game.

"Yeah, we got a little worried. Look what happened all of last year. You guys saw it. We'd play good for three quarters, have a big lead, and then the last five minutes it would just get away from us."

That nearly happened again, and the result was a side of Stan Van Gundy that Pistons fans haven't seen yet, giving staccato answers in a post-game press conference he clearly would have preferred to skip.

"We missed a lot of layups," Van Gundy said. "We missed a lot of shots right around the basket.

"We missed free throws at crucial times. We didn't really turn the ball over. We had some bad fouls, couldn't get a couple rebounds, missed some free throws."

It wasn't the introspection and analysis people have come to expect from Van Gundy, but it was also clear he didn't care to share some of his deeper thoughts.

It took until Iman Shumpert's intentionally missed second free throw went out of bounds with two seconds left, and possession was awarded to Detroit on review, before the outcome was sealed.

The Pistons were 18 of 21 on free throws in the first three quarters but just 5 of 12 in the fourth quarter, including missing three of their last four.

"I just think we got relaxed," Jennings said. "I think we thought the game was over."

Greg Monroe had 23 points and 18 rebounds, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added another 20 points, though they missed three fourth-quarter free throws between them.

Josh Smith struggled greatly with his shot -- he was 2 of 17 from the field -- but his 10 rebounds and five assists, and his defensive work in helping to limit Anthony to 13 points, were pluses on his horrible offensive night.

"I thought he played good defense tonight," Van Gundy said. "I thought he worked hard. He had double-figure rebounds, all those guys up front did. If guys keep making that kind of effort, we'll eventually figure it out."

The Pistons might have won going away if they could have finished shots in the paint, where they were 17 of 47.

"Anybody who gets shots at the rim, I think you need to take it," Monroe said. "If you had to bet, people would bet that those would go in and we wouldn't miss as many as we did tonight. That happens in this league. If you miss layups, you have to find another way to win."

The Pistons did that in a couple of unusual ways for them -- an 11-9 advantage in 3-pointers and 23-8 advantage in free throws made -- and a more conventional one, rebounding, where they were plus-12.

They needed all of those elements on a night that looked like so many last year, when the Pistons lost 14 games in which they led after three quarters.

"We're always happy about a win but I'm sure he's not -- we're not -- happy with the way the outcome came," Jennings said, referring to Van Gundy. "You can't play with the game like that. If you play with the game, it'll come back to haunt you. You've got to play the whole game, the whole 48 minutes. Yes, we won, but we can't have scares like that because we know what it can turn into. We saw it last year."

So what was Van Gundy's post-game message?

"Practice at 12 -- seriously," Jennings said.

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