Brunson scores 39, Knicks beat Celtics
BOSTON » Jalen Brunson scored 39 points in three quarters and the New York Knicks kept up their quest to finish with the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference by beating the Boston Celtics 118-109 on Thursday night.
One day after clinching a playoff spot, the Knicks pulled within a game of the Milwaukee Bucks for second, with each team having two games remaining. New York would have to win both and have the Bucks lose their games at Oklahoma City and Orlando, because Milwaukee has the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Brunson shot 15 of 23 from the field and 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Backcourt mate Donte DiVincenzo had 17 points and Josh Hart finished with
16. New York also received a lift off the bench from its primary acquisition at the trade deadline, as Bojan Bogdanovic had 14 points.
Jayson Tatum scored 18 points for Boston. Payton Pritchard had 16 off the bench and Jaylen Brown and Sam Hauser each had 15.
• The Celtics always hoped to keep Jrue Holiday on their roster beyond this season. It didn’t take Holiday long to view Boston as a franchise he wanted to play for on a long-term basis.
A day after he agreed to a four-year, $135 million extension to remain with the Celtics, Holiday said Thursday that it was an early weight off his shoulders as he prepares for a playoff run that the former Milwaukee Bucks All-Star hopes will end with his second NBA championship ring.
“Once I knew I was getting traded here, this is a part of what I wanted or what I envisioned,” Holiday told reporters Thursday. “Being in a great organization. Being here for a lengthy amount of time and being able to play alongside people like (Jayson Tatum) and (Jaylen Brown), and really try to get more banners and get more rings.”
The new extension will include Holiday forgoing the $37.5 million player option he had for next season under his previous contract. BULLS 127, PISTONS 105 » DeMar DeRozan scored 39 points and Chicago sent Detroit to its franchise-record 67th loss of the season.
Detroit (13-67) broke the franchise mark set by the 1979-80 team.