Glass half-empty for Celtics
Another bad start leads to boos in loss
When the boos first started in the second quarter, a concerned fan got to his feet and shouted, “Hey Boston, step the (expletive) up!!!”
He drew some attention from ushers for that, though it was unclear if they gave him a medal for making a reasonable request.
The Celtics, generally good for a half ’s worth of effectiveness these days, played to their expected level in the second half. But against one of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams, their first-half sins were too much to overcome in a 117-109 loss to the New York Knicks last night at the Garden.
The Celtics, who trailed at one stage in the second quarter by 26 points, came back offensively, with four players scoring 19 or more points, while also shooting 39.2 percent overall and 30.3 percent from 3-point range.
Gordon Hayward’s right side 3 with 1:05 left cut the New York lead to 110-106, triggering a Knicks timeout, and winning back the onetime booing crowd. Trey Burke, a surprise nemesis with 29 points, banked an 18footer — a shot answered by two Al Horford free throws that cut the Knicks lead to 112-108 with 40.3 seconds left.
Jaylen Brown wrestled the ball away from Tim Hardaway Jr. at midcourt and was hard-fouled under the basket. Brown, miffed by Emmanuel Mudiay’s shove, got into a brief pushing match before being separated.
Brown was called for a technical foul, and with 34.8 seconds left Hardaway miss the free throw. Brown missed the second of his two, leaving the Celtics down by three points. But Burke immediately blew up the margin, burying an uptop trey over Jayson Tatum with 12 seconds left for a 115109 New York lead.
Marcus Morris missed from the baseline, and Mudiay put the night away with two free throws. Boos ensued.
Alonzo Trier’s 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer was good for an 84-69 NY lead.
And it didn’t take much to slip back again. Back-to-back 3-pointers from rookie Kevin Knox restored New York to a 20-point (90-70) lead, and another trey from Frank Ntilikina 35 seconds later gave the Knicks a 22-point edge.
Hayward and Horford both hit from downtown, and by the time Kyrie Irving hit two free throws off a clear path foul, with Horford hitting a 3 on the ensuing possession, the Celtics once again had the margin chopped to 10 points (94-84) with 7:24 left.
But the Knicks ran off four straight points, including Burke’s 22nd of the night, and when Tatum could only convert the first of two free throws, Hardaway hit from downtown for a 101-85 lead with 5:58 left.
Tatum’s three-point play with 4:37 left cut the New York lead to 13 points, though Hardaway answered from downtown.
The Celtics made their next bid to break inside 10 points when Morris followed an Irving 3-pointer with two free throws, cutting the Knicks lead to 10696with3:34left. Hardaway answered with a floater, and Morris sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a Burke jumper.
The Celtics, with the New York lead now cut to nine (110-101), retained possession when Tatum won a jump ball, with Irving driving to nail down the possession.
One Knicks miss later, Hayward buried the 3-pointer, cutting the New York lead to 110-106 with 1:05 left.