Jays continue to dominate New York, Celtics beat Knicks 118-105

After a blowout win over the Philadelphia 76ers, the Celtics returned home for the first time since the All-Star break to face off against the New York Knicks in a matinee matchup. The Celtics have had the Knicks number all year and that dominance continued with a 118-105 win.

Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics with another brilliant performance of 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists on 8-20 shooting. Jaylen Brown was right there alongside him with 24 points and 8 rebounds of his own as the Jays were able to get whatever they wanted against the Knicks defense.

The final score is a little misleading as the Knicks were able to make the game close at one point, but the Celtics were completely in control of this game as they won their 5th straight game.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

Boston had every starter scoring a point in the first three minutes on a 13-3 run. The Celtics did a great job of leaking out in transition off of the Knicks missed baskets as New York looked helpless on both sides of the ball.

Jrue Holiday was great early, scoring 9 points on 4-4 shooting in the first quarter; he is starting to look like the player we saw last season.

Boston continued to dominate New York, ending the first quarter with a commanding 38-19 lead. After a slow start shooting, Jayson Tatum continued his success over the Knicks with 10 points in the quarter. The Celtics offense was clicking, shooting 61% from the field and 44% from three.

The Knicks started to show some fight to begin the second. Cam Payne scored 7 straight points for New York as a part of a 10-2 run that resulted in a Celtics timeout. Boston drew up a great play out of the timeout with Porzingis backing down Payne at the free throw ending in an and-1 layup and the Celtics offense continued to dominate the Knicks defense.

After New York cut Boston’s lead to 13, there was a slight chance the Knicks might have been able to go on a run, but that did not happen. Jayson Tatum continued to torment the Knicks to end the second quarter as after he hit a deep three over Karl-Anthony Towns, the Celtics took a 64-43 lead going into halftime.

Tatum finished the first half with a dominant 17 points on 6-12 shooting and Porzingis had a great half as well with 13 points and 8 rebounds.

Josh Hart led the Knicks with 11 points but New York struggled to get anything going offensively, only shooting 33% from the field and 29% from three. The Celtics held Jalen Brunson to only 7 points on 3-8 shooting as they did a good job making sure he couldn’t get anything going.

The Celtics offense picked up right where they left off to begin the third quarter as Jaylen Brown scored 7 straight points to open up the second half. However, Karl-Anthony Towns started to get hot for the Knicks, scoring 10 straight points as a part of a 19-5 run to cut the Celtics lead to 13. The Knicks run was aided by a Celtics cold stretch on offense and not getting back on defense as a very angry Joe Mazzulla called a timeout.

The timeout did little to help as New York continued to cut into Boston’s lead. The Knicks got it down to a 7-point game as the Celtics led 89-82 going into the fourth quarter. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns combined to score 29 points. The Knicks scored 39 points in the third quarter shooting 60% from the field and 67% from three.

Towns and White traded baskets to begin the fourth quarter but the Celtics were able to find their groove offensively. Kristaps Porzingis had a great sequence with an alley-oop dunk on one end and a block of Towns on the other but it was Jaylen Brown led the charge for Boston, scoring 9 straight points as a part of a 13-2 run to open up the Celtics lead to double digits again.

The Celtics never looked back after this as they continued to throttle the Knicks ran out of gas and Boston was able to beat New York for the third time this season.