THE RIGHT TUFFING!
Knicks stun Celts to ensure it’s a happy Turkey Day
Trey Burke lights up Boston with 29 points as Knicks pick up rare victory, knocking off the Celtics, 117-109 on Wednesday night.
BOSTON – It was coming.
It had that feel because of all the times prior it happened to the Knicks. A collapse. And this one would’ve been epic.
Up by 26 in the second quarter and then by 12 with 2:28 remaining, the Knicks allowed the Celtics and their passionate crowd to believe they could win again, to cut the defi- cit to one possession in the final 35 seconds.
But on this improbable Wednesday night at TD Garden, the Knicks can thank Trey Burke, the hero of their best victory of the season, 117109.
The Knicks don’t have to be turkeys for Thanksgiving.
“Finally,” coach David Fizdale said as he settled in for the postgame press conference.
Burke, the backup guard, capped his best game as a Knick with a game-sealing 3pointer at the top of the key with 12 seconds remaining. It stunned the crowd, and maybe even the Knicks a little, since they were riding a sixgame losing streak and lost all their previous close games.
Burke’s shot – taken in isolation over Boston’s Jayson Tatum — gave him 29 points with 11 assists and six boards in 32 minutes.
“I shot it confidently, a shot I work on every day. And it dropped,” Burke said.
Catching everybody off guard , including a crowd in Boston that booed the home team throughout, the Knicks built a 57-32 lead in the second quarter.
Fizdale stuck with the same starting lineup – Enes Kanter, Noah Vonleh, Mario Hezonja, Tim Hardaway, Emmanuel Mudiay – but it was the bench that carried New York on Wednesday.
The Celtics cut the deficit to 10 in the third quarter, but didn’t get it back to single digits until Marcus Morris’ 3pointer with 2:18 remaining. That set off the frantic finish – with the Knicks nearly imploding (again) by committing two turnovers. So what was the difference Wednesday?
“Really, it was Trey,” Fizdale said. “It was one key. It was Trey. He really carried us home.”
It represented, by far, the biggest win for the Knicks (514) this season. And they did it despite playing on the second night of a back-to-back with their leading scorer, Tim Hardaway Jr., struggling early with his shot. Hardaway ultimately flipped a switch in the fourth quarter and finished with 21 points on 8-for-19 shooting. Noah Vonleh added 16 points and 10 boards.
Kevin Knox broke out of a slump while contributing 11 points with nine rebounds.
The Celtics (9-9) were considered the preseason favorites to win the Eastern Conference, boasting four potential All-Stars in Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford and Jayson Tatum.
But they’re really struggling to start the season, losing for the third straight time Wednesday and for the seventh time in their last 11 games.