Kyrie Irving hasn't looked like himself much since returning from a bruised quad in early February. That changed on Saturday night.
The All-Star point guard delivered arguably his best all-around game as a Celtic, posting 31 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists to help carry his teammates past a feisty Knicks team with a 121-112 win at Madison Square Garden.
Irving scored 15 of his 31 points in an electric third quarter that saw him tear up a young Knicks backcourt with his vast array of isolation moves. He got plenty of help in the fourth quarter from his fellow starters as Jaylen Brown (24 points) and Al Horford (13 points, 10 rebounds) hit several open jumpers down the stretch to help the visitors score 22 points in the final six minutes of the win.
Trey Burke led the Knicks with 26 points and eight assists off the bench in what was largely a lackluster defense performance by the C's, particularly from the second unit. Irving's masterpiece helped the visitors overcome that disappointing effort.
GAME: No. 61 of 82:
WHO: Celtics (41-19) vs. Knicks (24-36)
WHEN: 7:30 EST
WHERE: Madison Square Garden
RADIO: 100.7 WZLX
TV: NBC Sports Boston
Projected starters
Celtics
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Al Horford
C: Daniel Theis
Inactive: Aron Baynes is out.
Knicks
PG: Emmanuel Mudiay
SG: Courtney Lee
F: Tim Hardaway Jr.
F: Michael Beasley
C: Enes Kanter
Second Half Notes
First Half Notes
- Celtics came out with some nice defensive intensity from the starting five, but also with some lackluster offense. They shot 20 percent from the field over the first six minutes, with Jaylen Brown, in particular, showing some struggles with his drives and jumper.
- To his credit, Brown found some rhythm at the end of the frame, as he didn't let his confidence get down. He hit a couple open corner 3s and managed to close out a couple drives with authority. He was second on the team in the first half with 10 points.
- Kyrie Irving seemed to be focused on putting on a show for the MSG crowd. Lots of isolation ball, lots of pull up jumpers from the top of the arc. He made enough of them (5-of-12 FG) to make it worse but it wasn't pretty early. Team-high 13 first half points.
- Theis with some rather ordinary minutes in his third spot start of his career. Enes Kanter is a tough matchup for him, but he held his own on the glass decently there.
- Unlike Friday night, a bit of a disastrous stretch for the second unit, who were firing bricks from all over the floor. Rozier started the game 0-of-5, while Greg Monroe and Marcus Morris missed some open looks.
- Marcus Smart meanwhile got his offense through his defense, piling up three first half steals that led to a couple fast break buckets.
- Defensively, the second unit struggled to contain the Knicks guards. A rejuvenated Trey Burke got whatever he wanted (15 points on 6-of-9 FG) while Tim Hardaway Jr. saw some success on the perimeter after a slow start to the half (10 points).
- After a defensive struggle in the first quarter, the second quarter morphed into a bit of a shootout. Whether it is because of a back-to-back or the Celtics being comfortable that they can handle a tanking Knicks team, there wasn't a lot of defensive energy/resistance in the second quarter. C's will need to tighten things up if they don't want a fight to the finish.
- Aron Baynes (sprained elbow) will be held out of Saturday's game after suffering an injury during the first quarter of Friday's win over the Pistons. He's day-to-day and will be re-evaluated back in Boston, according to the team.
- Shane Larkin will be active for the first time in weeks on Saturday night after sitting out with a sore knee for the past 10 games. Brad Stevens told reporters before the game that he'll be on playing time restriction of 10-12 minutes.
- This is the fourth and final meeting of the year between the two division rivals. The Celtics lead the season series 2-1.
- The Knicks have lost eight of their last ten games after losing star forward Kristaps Porzingis to an ACL tear earlier this month.