Jalen Brunson delivers another dominant effort in Knicks’ 118-109 win over Celtics
The Knicks dominated the Eastern Conference leading Boston Celtics, 118-109, on Thursday night at TD Garden.
After clinching a playoff spot following Miami's blowout loss to Luca Doncic and the Mavericks on Wednesday night, the Knicks responded with a dominant effort to hand the top-seeded and fully-healthy Celtics their first home loss in just over two months.
Here are some takeaways...
- New York lost to Boston in each of their previous four contests heading into this one, but this was the first time they matched up with star small forward OG Anunoby in the starting lineup and he made his presence felt with 12 points and five rebounds while playing his usual stellar defense.
- The Jalen Brunson show was on full display once again, though, as he put together his fifth consecutive 35+ point outing. After the All-Star point guard got off to a bit of a quiet start, he helped push the Knicks in front for good with 12 second-quarter points, including a four-point play as part of a 25-5 run to close out the first half.
Brunson had a bit of a scare as he was seen clutching his left wrist after taking a Jaylen Brown charge midway through the third quarter, but he responded by knocking down a trio of threes over the next few minutes to end the third with 21 more points. He didn't play at all in the fourth quarter with the game out of hand so he finished with 39 points on 15-of-23 shooting from the field and 6-of-11 from three.
- Josh Hart was also spectacular for New York from beginning to end, as he put together yet another double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. The workhorse shooting guard played 32 minutes and finished with 16 points, 16 rebounds, and five assists.
- Big man Isaiah Hartenstein, who also finished with an 11-point, 13-rebound double-double (to go along with six assists), helped the Knicks dominate the glass all night to out-rebound the Celtics 52-36.
- Donte DiVincenzo finished with 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field and Bojan Bogdanovich knocked down 6-of-10 shots to contribute 14 points of his own off the bench.
Highlights
Upcoming schedule
The Knicks return to action on Friday night as they take on the Brooklyn Nets at 7:30 p.m. at MSG.
