Celtics stay atop East, beat Knicks for 50th win

FIRST TIME SINCE 2010-11

BRIAN MAHONEY NEW YORK • Isaiah Thomas had never been part of a 50-game winner, so one goal has been realized.

The Boston Celtics have much bigger things ahead of them — starting with a showdown against the defending NBA champions.

Thomas scored 19 points in just 24 minutes and the Celtics remained atop the Eastern Conference, beating the New York Knicks 11094 on Sunday.

“I’ve never won 50 games in my NBA career, so definitely was an individual goal of mine coming into this season to win 50 games and I’m just glad we got to that,” Thomas said. “But like I keep saying, we’ve got a lot more work to do.”

Jaylen Brown added 16 points for the Celtics, who will be no worse than tied with Cleveland for the best record in the East when they host the Cavaliers on Wednesday. Boston is off until then, while the Cavs were set to play two games in between.

Boston secured its first 50-win season since going 56-26 in 2010-11 and did it easily, shooting 55.6 per cent and getting 14 points apiece from Marcus Smart and Al Horford.

“Couple years ago I would’ve thought that that was going to be something that we were really going to have to build for a while to, but I thought that obviously we’ve been lucky to strike on a couple of guys,” coach Brad Stevens said. “Everybody’s got a like mind with regard to the bigger purpose of playing for the Celtics and trying to compete every night.

Courtney Lee scored 16 points and Kristaps Porzingis had 14 for the Knicks, who announced during the game that Derrick Rose will have season-ending surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee. They also played without Carmelo Anthony (sore lower back).

Boston had little trouble with the Knicks who remained. The Celtics never trailed, shot 60 per cent in a 60-point first half and led by as many as 27 points.