Boston Celtics Hold Off Knicks in Back End of Road Back-to-Back

The Boston Celtics did not play their best basketball, but improved to 2-1 with a 103-101 victory over the New York Knicks Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Jayson Tatum had 24 points and 14 rebounds in the Celtics win.

The Boston Celtics played with their meal Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, pawing at the New York Knicks like a half-amused cat does a field mouse, before finally consuming their prey, 103-101 in the second night of a road back-to-back.

Jayson Tatum led the way with 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Celtics and nailed an eerily Kobe-like right shoulder fadeaway to put the Celtics up three late with 21 seconds to go.

In the final seconds, Tatum almost undid his heroics with a boneheaded blunder, fouling Knicks point guard Trey Burke on a three-point shot. Luckily, Burke missed the first free throw and Horford secured his purposeful attempt to miss the third free throw to seal the game.

Boston improved to 2-1 on the young season, rebounding from a loss to the Toronto Raptors the night before. New York has lost its last two games and drops to 1-2.

With Kristaps Porzingis still recovering from injury the Knicks rotation is filled with flawed young players, rookies, and cast-offs. Summer will come early in New York for the lottery-bound Knicks.

Missing Celtics

The Celtics, on the other hand, were playing without Gordon Hayward, who didn’t play due to ‘general soreness’ after playing 24 minutes the night before.

Aron Baynes, who started 67 games for Boston last season, took Hayward’s spot in the starting lineup and played a great first half, scoring 10 points and pulling down 5 rebounds. However, Baynes hurt his hamstring and didn’t stayed in the locker room at halftime and did not return to the game.

Besides Baynes, who had three early offensive rebounds and a three-pointer, Boston came out right away like a team who had played in a different country last night and knew they were in a different league talent-wise than their opponent.

Celtics center Al Horford hit two three-pointers in the first quarter as Knicks center Enes Kanter struggled to defend in the pick-and-roll and Boston bounced out to a 16-point lead before letting New York back in with uninterested defense.

The Celtics have been one of the best team’s in the league in three-point defense since Brad Stevens took over as coach, but on Saturday, the Knicks had countless wide open three-point attempts. New York made 12 three-pointers, including five from Tim Hardaway Jr., who led his team with 24 points.

Crunch Time

Hardaway Jr. hit back-to-back threes to tie the game at 89 with 4:12 remaining, as Jaylen Brown lost him on a simple pin down screen each time.

With 1:37 left, and Boston up four, Kanter stripped Celtics guard Marcus Smart in the lane, but got called for his sixth and final foul. He finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Knicks forward Lance Thomas hit a three-pointer to cut it to one with just under a minute remaining before Tatum hit his clutch turnaround.

After picking up his fourth four early in the second half, Horford (8 points, 10 rebounds) only ended up playing 23 minutes due to foul trouble. After a DNP-CD Friday, Daniel Theis saw some action at center and Guerschon Yabusele got his first look of the season.

New York tied the game nine times in the second half, but their biggest lead of the game was one point, because each time they evened the score, Boston responded–whether it was Tatum, Irving (16 points, 5 assists), or Marcus Morris (16 points, 6 rebounds). Irving had key baskets and assists down the stretch to turn the tide, despite some  poor shooting and disinterested defense throughout the game.

Marcus Smart had eight points and five assists and helped bring Boston a much-needed boost of energy late in the third quarter when the Knicks tied the game. He and Terry Rozier (10 points) helped push the Boston lead back to seven to end the third quarter.

New York rookie Kevin Knox played just four minutes before leaving the game with a sprained ankle, but fellow rookie Allonzo Trier led the Knicks bench charge with 15 points on 9 shots in 25 minutes.