Celtics 131, Knicks 104: Scenes of a balloon deflating

KAT’s Cold Night, Knicks’ Colder Shooting, Celtics’ Easy Win

The snow was falling, but the New York Knicks’ (34-18) shots were not in tonight’s 131-104 loss to the Boston Celtics (37-16). The game was like trying to climb a greased-up fire escape—every time the Knicks tried to scramble back, the Celtics sent them sliding right back down. After working extremely hard to cut a 17-point deficit to three in the early stages of the third quarter, Jayson Tatum (40 points, 7-of-14 from deep) poured more points on our tired heroes, extending the lead to as much as 35. Quoth Sprees_stepback: “It’s been ugly.”

Actually, Spree’s comment came in response to MelleMehl’s reasonable question: “Is this KAT’s worst game as a Knick?” Either of these are worthy contenders for the headline, but this is a postgame report, not a recap (Professor has that covered). To be fair, Karl-Anthony Towns was a game-time decision due to knee soreness and, boy, did he look it. However, if Karl had sat, and with OG Anunoby out, Thibs might have resorted to a starting line-up of Jalen Brunson, Miles McBride, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, and Precious Achuiwa. Against the Boston Celtics. Seems like a damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario. In the end, KAT played 28 minutes, scoring nine points and nine rebounds, and was a -26 (of note: he did make both three-point attempts).

The Knicks had not played since Tuesday’s win in Toronto. They looked well rested to start the game—in fact, they appeared to be still asleep, as they missed ten straight shots and fell behind 12-2. Taking and making threes while harassing on defense, the Celts mounted a 17-point lead. Jayson Tatum, apparently aware that a national audience was watching, started the festivities with a show-off jam on the head of Precious Achiuwa. It would establish the theme for the night.

The Knicks played better in the second quarter with an injection of Cameron Payne’s energy off the bench, but you cannot beat Boston by shooting twos while they’re hitting threes. Nor can you get far when the Beantown bums are out-rebounding you 28-18, as they did in the first half. By halftime, the visitors were ahead 61-48.

In other news, Mark Williams failed his physical, and the Lakers rescinded his trade. And here’s a Deuce highlight.

Spotting the Celtics 13 points to start a half is a losing proposition. Still, the Knicks gave good effort coming out of intermission with a 19-9 run to make the game closer than it had been for a while. When Josh Hart took the ball from Jaylen Brown and Mikal Bridges cashed in a three-pointer, New York had cut the deficit to a mere three!

Rallying against the Celtics looks like tiring work. After the Knicks had closed the gap, Boston responded with a 19-3 run. Hence, with 2:30 left in the quarter, the hole was 19 points deep again. All that hard work was for naught. Tatum scored 19 of his many points in the frame, and the Knicks were behind by 20 heading into the final quarter. Tatum reached 40 points early in the fourth, hitting his seventh three-pointer of the night, and with every swish of the net, New York’s hopes drifted further away. Jalen Brunson touched 30 points shortly after, but he lacked the support that Tatum had. The Celts won both the third and fourth quarters 35-28. Let’s go to bed.

Up Next

The Knicks face the Celtics again on February 23. In the immediate future, they will not play again until Tuesday, when they face the Pacers in Hoosierville. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.

Box Score