BSJ Game Report: Celtics 118, Knicks 105 - White & Brown deliver in fourth for Boston's fifth-straight win

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Knicks, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics, behind 10/5/3 from Jayson Tatum in the first quarter, completely out-classed the Knicks to go up 38-19. The Knicks made a run to cut it to 11, but Boston recovered and went into halftime up 21. The lead grew to 27 but the Knicks went on a 32-12 run to cut it to seven going into the fourth. Boston answered by dominating the final quarter, behind 20 combined from Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Easy (ish) going: I don’t want to completely dismiss a huge run that erased most of a 27-point lead, but when the Celtics had their switch flipped to “on,” they were dominant. They clearly let up a bit, and the Knicks are a talented enough team to take advantage of bad defense. But they're not good enough to beat Boston’s best defense, which we saw for three quarters.

- Championship response: Even as the lead dipped to four, I was just waiting for Boston to get it back together and respond. They did that in a big way, started by White and finished by Brown, to build the lead back up to 21. There's no doubt Boston opened the door and the Knicks took advantage, but the Celtics never seemed to lose their edge like they did earlier in the year. 

- Tatum near another triple-double: He made some difficult passes in this game look very easy. I think the Celtics could have gone at Karl-Anthony Towns even more than they did. Tatum played great but he could have played better, which is amazing for a guy who went 25/10/9 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics 23-8 run over 7:32 of the fourth quarter stopped New York’s hopes in their tracks. Derrick White’s two early 3-pointers were huge but the sequence where Kristaps Porzingis caught an alley-oop from White on an out-of-bounds play and then challenged Karl-Anthony Towns at the rim (it didn’t go down as an official block of the dunk), followed by Brown’s transition layup and Al Horford’s timeout taunt was the signature sequence. 

THINGS I LIKED

- The response: More on this on its own later, but this kind of response shows you the Celtics are back. They kept their cool, fired back, and took the game. 

- Jayson Tatum: His rebounding and ability to guard someone like Towns is another way to see how special he is as a player. He can run the show, guard on the perimeter, and then get down low and mix it up inside. He can get caught up in pressing for his shot sometimes, but when he avoids that, he can do anything. 

- Jaylen Brown: He didn’t let a slow start get to him. After the game, he admitted he wasn’t feeling his best, but after going 5-12 for 13 points through three quarters, he went 5-9 for 11 points in the fourth. 

“The game wasn’t going the way he wanted to, but I thought he did a tremendous job just fighting,” Joe Mazzulla said. “His ability to really lock in defensively for us, he had a couple steals, he was in his shifts, got some deflections, got out in transition. So I was just really happy with his mindset throughout the game of playing through those things.”

- Derrick White: If you didn’t know before, now you do: This Derrick White makes the Celtics unstoppable. Two 3-pointers, an offensive rebound, and two assists all in a stretch where Boston’s lead grew from four to 12 when the Knicks called their first timeout of the fourth. He had his fingerprints all over everything. He finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists and was the absolute catalyst for regaining control.

- White breaking up this fast break: I know the Knicks eventually scored, but as I saw this play happening I KNEW White was going to find a way to break it up. 

That spacing was bad and the ball needed to be in the middle of the floor. They were begging White to make a highlight play, and he did.

- Jrue Holiday: 14 points on 6-9 shooting, three steals, four rebounds, two assists on the afternoon. His energy is hitting a different level. The shoulder thing might have been affecting him before the break but I think he was mostly easing into the season. I never thought he lost it, I just thought he was taking longer to show it. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- The third quarter: The Celtics let up and the Knicks took advantage. But then the Celtics went cold and New York got hot to add to the problem. I think the Celtics got away from what was working there and, for a few minutes, there was a little bit of “I’ll just try to hit this shot to stop the momentum” thing going on. When those shots didn’t fall and the Knicks got into transition, the lead fell apart. Once the shots started falling and the Celtics ramped up their defense, things flipped again. 

HIGHLIGHTS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- The Celtics are back.

The swoon is over. Boston has now won five straight games, all by at least 13 points. They’ve won nine of their last 10 and 12 of their last 15. They’ve beaten the Knicks twice and the Cavs over their last seven games. 

“Whenever KP came back for that second 11-stretch period, that was kind of like our training camp to where we had to just re-establish our identity,” Mazzulla said. “Teams were playing us different, and they will continue to do so, so it just took time to get into each individual rhythm. What we do as a team is really important, but how each individual guy fits into that is important. So they’re doing a better job of having an understanding of how they impact each other, and we’ve got to continue to get better at that.”

It’s almost like getting a joint replacement surgery. You never forgot how to walk, you just added something new to your body and all the other parts have to figure out how to do things together again. 

I know that's not the perfect analogy, but it’s sort of what happened with all of Boston’s moving parts trying to get back in sync. Also, we’re past the All-Star break, guys have had their vacations, and they know it’s time to get moving again. 

They will still lose some games. They might look bad in a couple of them. But I think the prolonged stretch of inconsistent play is over. 

- Tom Thibodeau is a maniac.

What the hell was he doing putting Towns back into the game late in the fourth quarter after he’d knocked knees with someone?

Towns checked back into a 20-point game with 4:12 to play. It was 21 with 2:08 to play. Towns was out there flexing his leg and limping around the floor. What good was this doing anyone? 

The only thing the Knicks did was screw up people’s in-game bets at the end of this game. I appreciate Thibs’ never say die mentality, but you have to acknowledge reality, too.

Next up: The Celtics go to Toronto to face the Raptors on Tuesday night