Celtics drop 131-129 heartbreaker to Knicks in 2OT
Six days earlier, the Knicks had clobbered the Celtics with a try-hard formula.
More foul shots, more rebounds, more purpose over a 15-point blowout in New York.
Two days earlier, the Nets out-worked Boston on their way to completing a 28-point comeback, the largest of the NBA season.
On Sunday night, tested again by the tireless Knicks, the Celtics looked primed to seize a modicum of revenge and apply the week’s lesson by outlasting New York in their longest game of the season.
They didn’t.
The Knicks survived a missed Al Horford 3 on the final possession of double overtime to leave town with a 131-129 win. Jayson Tatum led all scorers with 40 points, but dished to Horford on the final play after drawing defensive help away from Horford’s position in the right corner. For all of Tatum’s efforts, no one could match indefatigable Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley, who recorded 38 points, eight rebounds and seven assists over a game-high 55 minutes.
“Situations like this, it’s good players making good plays,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “And they made one more shot than we did.”
Quickley scored a gametying basket in the final seconds of the first overtime and opened the second with a 3-pointer. After two Celtics misses, he dropped the hammer with a wide-open dunk that put New York up by five at 3:47 to play. The Knicks led by two possessions for most of the rest of the night, though tense moments rose after a Tatum layup cut New York’s lead to two at 46 seconds left, and the Knicks turned it over on their next possession.
Instead, Boston (45-20) lost and fell 1.5 games behind the conference-leading Bucks, who won at Washington on Sunday. Despite Jaylen Brown’s 29 points and 20 points and 14 boards from Horford, the Celtics have now lost three of their last four.
Tatum, Brown, Horford and Grant Williams all played more than 44 minutes against the Knicks, and now head to Cleveland for the second night of a backto-back Monday.
Their problems Sunday night felt familiar, as a large third-quarter lead evaporated against a fiesty, undermanned underdog. While star guard Jalen Brunson rode the bench, Knicks forward Julius Randle poured in 31 points around nine rebounds and four assists, and R.J. Barrett scored 29. The Knicks again shot more free throws (32 to 25), though the Celtics matched them in the paint.
Together, Randle and Quickley combined for 11 unanswered points heading into the fourth quarter and took an 88-87 lead when Randle canned a buzzerbeating, step-back 3. The Knicks stretched their lead to 11 early in the fourth on the back of a 21-2 run. After calling timeout and reinserting their starters at 9:04 left, the Celtics stabilized and cut their deficit to 102-99 on a thunderous Tatum dunk.
Two scoreless minutes of physical, up-and-down play followed, highlighted by Brown’s block of Randle in the mid-post. Second later, Brown tied the game by dropping an and-1 transition layup through at 4:08 remaining. Undeterred, the Knicks hit two foul shots on their next possession, and Williams answered with a put-back score.
But between three empty Boston possessions, New York scored on every trip and staked a 111-104 lead on another Randle 3 with a minute and a half left. Dusting themselves off, Horford splashed a triple, and the Celtics defense forced a shot-clock violation. Then, Williams wrestled away an offensive rebound off a missed 3, Smart misfired from downtown, and Brown tapped out another board.
This time, Smart hit from the left corner and cut Boston’s deficit to one with 17.9 seconds left. A Smart foul sent Randle back to the line, where he hit both shots to lift New York to a 113-110 advantage. Breaking from a timeout, Brown drew a foul and scored on a mid-post turn-around at 12.9 ticks to go left in regulation.
After drilling the gametying free throw, Brown poked the ball away from Randle on a double-team with seconds left to force overtime.
Neither team could pull away by more than a possession in the first period, despite an opening 3-pointer from Smart and another trey from Horford with less than a half-minute to go. All of the Celtics’ shots from the field in the first overtime came from behind the arc, signs of tired legs against a tireless opponent.
Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams were ruled out pregame with injuries.