The Boston Celtics led from start to finish in a 128-100 victory over the New York Knicks for the fourth win in a row.
The Boston Celtics scored a season-high 69 points in the first half against the New York Knicks and led from end-to-end en route to a 128-100 victory Thursday at the TD Garden.
Al Horford led the way with 19 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 3 assists, while Jaylen Brown had a season-high 21 points in his return after missing the last three games with a back injury.
Al Horford goes glass for two! https://t.co/Bs0x24xeeZ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 7, 2018
Seven players scored in double figures as the Celtics had a season-high 32 assists, 20 of which came in the first half. Boston tied a season-high for points and field goals made, shooting 49-for-92, 53.3 percent on the game.
At this point in the season, its good to see the Celtics offense flow so smoothly, even if the Knicks didn’t provide much resistant. There were times early this season, the offense looked ugly against any and all opponents.
Boston ran a lot of plays that ended with simple pick-and-roll plays with Kyrie Irving and Al Horford and the Knicks continuously allowed easy baskets, letting the Celtics pick their method of delivery.
Irving spun another masterful point guard performance, controlling the Celtics high-scoring offense to the tune of 22 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds.
Al Horford has really come alive since resting his knee on the front end of two recent back-to-backs, playing with more energy and spring–and knocking down shots to boot. Horford played really great defensive Thursday; he protected the rim time and again with early rotations, had 4blocks and 10 defensive rebounds, while making 8-of-12 shots.
Horford scored the last 11 points of the first half to push the Celtics ahead, 69-58, heading into the break.
In his return, Jaylen Brown scored a team-high 12 points in the first half, along with Jayson Tatum. Tatum finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds while making 3-of-5 three-pointers.
Brown and Gordon Hayward entered the game together as the first bench players to get into the game with four minutes left in the first quarter. Brown drove the ball hard to the hoop his first two touches, scoring an and-one on Enes Kanter then getting to the free throw line again.
Jaylen Brown throws it over his head and through the hoop for the and-one bucket in tonight's @JetBlue Play of the Game! https://t.co/gkDJk8rYzx
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 7, 2018
Hayward continued to look great quarterbacking the second unit, finishing with four assists and zero turnovers. He made 2-of-3 three-pointers and grabbed six rebounds.
Aron Baynes played one minute before spraining his left ankle in the paint and disappearing to the locker room for the rest of the night. The injury didn’t look too serious, but more of a precautionary rest against an inferior opponent.
Daniel Theis stepped up in Baynes’ absence, scoring 10 points. Marcus Smart missed all five of his three-point attempts, but he dished out seven assists without a turnover.
Boston won its fourth game in a row and improved to 14-10 on the season. New York dropped to 8-18.