Celtics finally gave fans what they've been begging for (just 7 months late)

A Derrick White three-pointer gave the Boston Celtics an 18-point lead heading into the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s meeting with the New York Knicks. The TD Garden crowd erupted in jubilation after watching their squad polish off a middle-quarter masterclass against the team that eliminated them from the playoffs last spring.

“I didn’t watch it,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said pregame of his team’s playoff defeat. “I haven’t thought about it much. I just kinda moved on and got to the next thing. So yeah, I didn’t spend too much time on that one.”

Well, if Mazzulla actually didn’t rewatch the painful elimination, he basically got a live-action rerun in person Tuesday. Momentum was completely on Boston’s side. Win No. 12 felt imminent, as Win No. 1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals did in each of the series’ first two games.

Then, just like it had happened in the playoffs, Boston’s lead was quickly halved by an 11-2 Knicks run in the first three minutes of the fourth. The energy came out of the building. The crowd became tense. Trolls took to Twitter to remind Celtics fans of what transpired twice back in May.

Another collapse was lurking.

Celtics avoided same disaster vs. Knicks

After a quick timeout, the Celtics showed some signs of poise and pushed the lead back to 15 behind a clutch triple from Sam Hauser and a strong and-1 finish from Anferee Simons.

Their counterpunch wasn’t enough to knock the Knicks out, though.

By the time Celtics fans could exhale, New York had already strung together another run, this time outsourcing Boston 12-0 to cut the difference to just three. 

The swing included an inexplicable six-point possession, where Hugo Gonzalez committed a flagrant landing-space foul on Mikal Bridges, netting the Knicks three free throws and the ball. After Bridges sank all three, Karl-Anthony Towns drilled a three-ball.

That moment, in particular, felt like a sign that this win was going to become a loss. Boston was splitting at the seams.

“We gave up almost 15 points on and-1’s and flagrant fouls,” Mazzulla pointed out. “That’s controllable. When stuff like that happens, we know we can get back to the basics.”

Mazzulla took a timeout, giving his guys a chance to regroup for the remaining 6:28. During the break, Jaylen Brown, who led the team with 42 points, shared a message with his teammates.

"It’s the fourth quarter. Everybody take a deep breath. Do your job, that's it. Don't think about nothing else. Come out and have fun."

This time, it was #DifferentHere in the fourth quarter

Man, did the Celtics do their job, especially when they were forced to do so once the Knicks started double-teaming Brown.

Immediately out of the timeout, JB found Jordan Walsh left open off the double. Walsh kept a cool head, made the right read, and found Derrick White, who swung it to Josh Minott for a clutch corner three to push the lead back to six.

Walsh displayed tremendous poise throughout crunch time, hustling for offensive rebounds and turning them into second-chance points. The Celtics only missed four shots in the final six and a half minutes, and Walsh hit the offensive glass for three of them.

Plus, he had a massive finish through traffic to give the Cs a five-point advantage with less than two minutes to go.

Minott and White made a few big shots, too, to help Boston keep pace with the charging Knicks. They combined for 10 of the final 21 points in this one.

Ironically, tragically, whatever adverb you’d like to use, this win brings the Celtics’ record against the Knicks to 2-2 when they’ve held substantial leads at TD Garden since the start of round two.

Somehow, they’ve managed to find the poise to hold on in each of the games where they’ve had a weakened roster, first winning Game 5 without Jayson Tatum, then holding on for a 123-117 win on Tuesday with a newer, younger, less-experienced group of players.

“It was a great win," Brown praised postgame. "Obviously, (vs.) the team that knocked you out in the playoffs it’s even sweeter to come back, but it's just one game, so we got to focus on the next one now and that's what's most important.”

The offensive execution was the difference. Fans will remember the Celtics’ shots slamming off the rim in each of their fourth-quarter collapses in the spring. As New York got hotter, they got colder, more tense, and ultimately froze to death twice.

This time, even with the Knicks shooting 64% from the field and 55% from three in the final 12 minutes, they managed to regroup and hold onto the win.

“Some of [New York’s run] was self-inflicted, but the poise to be able to work through that,” Mazzulla shared. “I thought our offensive execution and poise withstood some of the defensive mistakes that we made.”