Knicks beat Celtics, keep up push for 2 seed

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.

“We made shots and made the right plays,” Brunson said. “Obviously, we know they’re the top dog in the East. Whenever you play against them, it’s always a good measuring stick to see where you’re at. We played pretty well, but we know what they’re capable of doing. We just had their number tonight.”

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 points and 16 rebounds. New York also received a lift off the bench from its primary acquisition at the trade deadline, as Bojan Bogdanovic had 14 points.

Playing in his first game against Boston since getting traded to the Knicks in late December, OG Anuoby had 12 points.

“We got stops, got out and scored and JB was getting in the paint and doing his thing,” Anuoby said. “We all do it together.”

Jayson Tatum scored 18 points for Boston. Payton Pritchard had 16 points off the bench and Jaylen Brown and Sam Hauser each had 15. The Celtics were badly beaten on the glass as the Knicks decisively won the rebounding battle (52-36) and had 22 second-chance points compared to Boston’s 12.

“It stings to have this loss, but maybe we need this before heading into the postseason with a killer mentality,” center Kristaps Porzingis said after Boston dropped its second straight. “It’s not who we are. This is not the team our fans love. That wasn’t on display. You best believe we’ll show up when we have to. We know what the goal is and make no mistake about it.”

Despite having already clinched homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, the Celtics took the court with their top eight players. With the Knicks up 29, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla opened the fourth quarter with a unit entirely of reserves.