Jaylen Brown just avenged a grudge he's been holding for 7 months

Tuesday's Boston Celtics win over the New York Knicks nearly ended in the same disaster as their two home losses to New York in last spring's playoffs. As they say, this time it was #DifferentHere, and the Cs managed to hold onto their late lead, walking away with a 123-117 victory.

Here's what stood out:

Jaylen Brown HATES the Knicks

One of the most memorable parts of Jaylen Brown’s appearance in Netflix’s Starting 5 docuseries was how openly he discussed his disdain for the Knicks and their fans.

“Last year, we were a championship team,” Brown told the cameras following Boston’s playoff elimination. “We won the championship. Duckboats, champagne… this year we gotta listen to insufferable Knicks fans. I don’t know how we lost in general. But... we lost."

If one thing was apparent on Tuesday, it was that JB had no interest in listening to the insufferable Knicks fans again. He brought the Celtics back from the dead after an ice-cold start. Brown ripped off a personal 10-0 in the second quarter to get Boston back within a possession of New York, after they trailed by as many as 14 early.

His energy helped shift the narrative. The Celtics closed the quarter strong behind 18 total points from JB and went into halftime with a six-point lead.

Brown continued his onslaught with a 15-point explosion in the third quarter. He was getting anything he wanted, mixing in some tough mid-range jumpers, too.

New York literally refused to even give him the chance to score in the fourth. They sent double teams at him every possession and forced him to find an open teammate, which he did quite well. It didn’t directly lead to assists, but Brown’s decision-making gave Boston numerical advantages, and they took advantage.

The star forward finished the night with 42 points, four rebounds, four assists, and a steal.

Until the Celtics find some consistency, the non-Jaylen Brown minutes are going to haunt them

This one’s pretty straightforward. As you’ve already read, Brown was a massive part of what the Celtics did in this game, as he’s been for the entire season to this point. That’s great, and I’m so happy that he’s been able to sustain his elite-level of play.

The problem, though, is that they almost lean too heavily on Brown. Whenever he has to sit, fans hold their breath and hope the Celtics don’t completely let go of the rope. For part of this game, it looked like that’d be the story.

JB watched from the bench, resting after a monster third quarter, as the Knicks opened the final frame on a 9-0 run to cut Boston’s lead in half. That momentum was enough to keep them in a game that was probably a few minutes of solid Celtics basketball away from being a comfortable win.

By the 6:30 mark in the fourth, they’d walked the lead down to just three points.

Jordan Walsh, Josh Minott, what a pair of players

Jordan Walsh and Josh Minott have essentially split the Celtics’ starting power forward duties this season. Minott started nine straight games before Walsh earned himself the opportunity to start.

While only one of them -- Walsh -- started this game, both were instrumental in keeping the Knicks at bay midway through the fourth quarter. Once the lead was down to three, Minott knocked down a massive three-pointer to give the Cs some much-needed breathing room.

He found himself in a similar spot on the next possession, but wasn’t able to sink the shot. Fortunately, Walsh was there to pick him up, skying for the rebound and putting it back for an extra two points.

A few trips later, Walsh did the same thing, earning the Celtics some more second-chance points. Then, in crunch time, he drove a closeout and finished a tough layup through traffic to push Boston’s lead back to five.

When you’re scratching and fighting to hold onto a lead and stop the opposing team’s momentum, these are the types of plays you need.

Both men were massive throughout the night, too.

Minott tallied 11 points and six rebounds, serving as Boston’s small-ball five through portions of this one. Meanwhile, Walsh logged eight points, six boards, and a massive steal.