So you wanted to know what happened to the Knicks who began the season 8-1 before resembling a gathering of World War I veterans for two games. So did the Knicks.
Based on yesterday’s 121-100 pummeling of the Pistons at the Garden, they didn’t go anywhere. They just got out of Texas.
“We wanted to bounce back,” said Carmelo Anthony, who fired in 29 points in under 32 minutes. “We did that. We got back to playing the defense we know how. We had to go back to trusting each other on the defensive end and we did that. The last two games, we didn’t.”
There were a lot of things the Knicks didn’t do in Dallas and Houston. But then they got back to the Garden.
“It was a lot better than when we were playing on the road,” coach Mike Woodson said. “We were committed.”
In every way. The Knicks, who visit Barclays Center tonight for their first showdown with the Nets of Brooklyn, allowed Detroit to hang around for a bit. At 6:40 of the second quarter, Detroit was within 38-34. Just 1:35 — and three Pistons misses plus a turnover — later, the Knicks’ lead was 10. Then 4:03 — containing two Steve Novak 3-pointers — after that, the lead was 20. The Knicks finished 17-of-33 on 3-pointers.
“It doesn’t concern me because we’ve got guys who can make them. It would concern me if I had guys who couldn’t make them and we were jacking up 33 threes a game, then I got a problem with that,” Woodson said. “Everybody around the league is shooting threes.”
But none are shooting like the Knicks, who average 12.2 makes a game. Against Detroit, Novak drilled five. Still, defense was what folks talked about.
“We have guys that are defensive-minded. That’s how it was when I was on that Pistons team,” said Rasheed Wallace, who returned after missing Friday with a sore foot.
“We weren’t happy with the way we played. We knew defensively we let down,” Novak said of the two losses. “We needed to refocus and that is what we did.”
It was no surprise to Detroit coach Lawrence Frank, who knows the Knicks have a priceless intangible: Jason Kidd. The numbers were pedestrian for Kidd: 25 minutes, six points, five rebounds three assists. But Kidd never has been about numbers.
“He’s a culture changer. He changes it all. He’s one of the few in the league that can do it,” Frank said. “I know what he meant to our franchise. Your team is going to embody everything that winning is about. You’re going to put defense first. You’re going to share the basketball. You’re going to compete every single night because he’s going to do it every single night.”
And the Knicks did it all yesterday.
fred.kerber@nypost.com