New York, N.Y.- The New York Knicks took on the Boston Celtics in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden. Before yesterday’s matchup, the Knicks had lost three straight games to the Celtics.
To start the game, the Knicks came out strong in the first quarter; Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson combined for 22 points in the quarter as the Knicks jumped out to an early 30-27 lead to finish the quarter. In the second quarter, it was more of the same; the Knicks were in the driver’s seat as Towns continued to be the hot hand as he scored 10 points in the quarter to help the Knicks go into half-time leading the Celtics 58-52.
In the third quarter, things started to drift in the wrong direction; The Knicks were held to just 20 points in the quarter, as Boston outscored them by 11 points. A big part of that was the Knicks missing a bulk of their shots and only shooting 36 percent from the field and 27 percent from the three-point line. As a result of the struggles in the third quarter, the Knicks found themselves down 83-78.
In the fourth quarter, it seemed that the Knicks found new life with four minutes left in the game, it was crunch time for the Knicks. The Knicks were down five points, but after a Josh Hart steal and a pull-up shot from Mikal Bridges, the deficit was cut to three points, on the ensuing possessions, Jalen Brunson would knock down a turnaround fadeaway to cut it to one and then a put back layup from OG Anunoby would put the Knicks up one. After a layup by Hart with 12 seconds left, the Knicks were up three points, but Jayson Tatum would answer for the Celtics taking a step back three to tie the game with two seconds left to go. The Knicks had the ball last but Josh Hart could not knock down the pull-up three-pointer to win the game.
The game moved on to overtime and it sadly got away from the Knicks, the game was tied with 40 seconds left but Kristaps Porzingis a former Knicks first-round pick back in 2015, hit a dagger three pointer over Jalen Brunson to take a 115-112 lead. On the ensuing possession, Brunson missed a three pointer to tie the game; the Knicks would retain possession and call a timeout to draw up a play, but after the timeout Mikal Bridges could not handle a hot pass and the ball went out of bounds. Jrue Holiday would knock down the late free throws for the Celtics to put the game in the bag as the Knicks lose 119-117.
This is a tough loss for the Knicks as they were so close to beating the defending champions, a team that has been a problem for them all year. The Knicks out rebounded the Celtics by 14 and outscored them by 30 points in the paint but the three pointers seemed to be what hurt the Knicks in this game, allowing Kristaps to have eight on the night, while Derrick White and Jayson Tatum both hit four. Both Tatum and Porzingis scored over 30 in the contest for the Celtics, the Knicks stars on the other end Karl-Anthony Towns and Jaylen Brunson also had a solid outing; Towns led the Knicks with 34 and 14 rebounds and Brunson poured in 27 points while dishing 10 assists.
“They are the defending champions… We know there’s a lot of work for us to do, we’re still working through things… I thought Jalen (Brunson) gave us some really good minutes, that’s a big plus, each game will get better and better,” said Head Coach Tom Thibodeau when asked about what he can take away from the tough loss.
As the season is coming to a close the Knicks will travel to Detroit next, then come back home to deal with the first place Cleveland Cavaliers and finish the season off with a showdown with the Brooklyn Nets.
