BSJ Game Report: Celtics 123, Knicks 117 - Brown's 42 leads C's with support from Gonzalez, Walsh

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

IN A NUTSHELL

The Knicks blasted out of the gates to take a 13-point lead behind a hot-shooting Josh Hart. Jaylen Brown fueled a huge run to take the lead late in the second, which settled at seven at halftime. It hung around 11 for a while until a huge close to the third to go up 18. The Knicks cut it all the way to three, but Jordan Walsh made every hustle play to help the C’s close it out.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Another great win: The Celtics entered this stretch of games against Orlando, Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland, New York, and the Lakers fresh off a loss to Brooklyn. They weren’t exactly closing games out strong and there was some fear that they were about to hit a real tough patch. 

All they’ve done is win four of five, including consecutive games that held off teams making a late charge. I would have been happy hanging around .500 here. 

- Unsung heroes: Hugo Gonzalez’s defense in the second was amazing. Walsh’s fourth quarter was the best basketball I’ve ever seen him play. Josh Minott made significant contributions down the stretch as well. 

“Everyone's got a different level of depth. We're using it now,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “Eleven guys played, so the depth there to be able to go — the other night, it was (Xavier Tillman), and tonight it was Hugo. Depth comes from just being able to impact the game in a positive way.”

- Oh by the way Jaylen Brown was awesome: Brown dropped a season-high 42 after a horrible start to the game. He had three turnovers, two fouls, and just four points in the first quarter. 

“I had some turnovers and probably was playing a little bit too fast,” Brown said. “I just told myself, ‘I’m going to just slow it down a little bit,’ and it was off to the races after that.”

He had 18 in the second quarter and 12 in the third. The fourth quarter? That's a different story to be told later. 

TURNING POINT 

The game flipped in the second quarter stretch where Boston went from down 14 to up seven. That's where Gonzalez changed the game with his defense on Karl-Anthony Towns. 

But just as important was the post timeout stretch starting at 6:29 of the fourth quarter when Walsh started doing his thing. Distributing the ball from the slot, crashing the boards, finishing at the rim. They got the lead back up to eight in less than 90 seconds, and it was enough to hold on from there.

THINGS I LIKED

- Celtics going small against Karl-Anthony Towns: This changed the game, starting with Gonzalez, but with others like Derrick White, Josh Minott, and Brown taking turns on Towns. The Celtics sent late double, sometimes with size, others without, to frustrate Towns. 

“Hugo, he just did a good job of getting underneath him, just kind of being physical with him,” Mazzulla said. “You saw just kind of the depth of our team throughout some of that game, and it started with Hugo and finished with Josh and Jordan.”

- Jaylen Brown: His first quarter was truly terrible. The three turnovers looked so bad that I thought the postgame story was going to be about Brown having some sort of mental block against the Knicks. Then he scored 33 points in the middle two quarters without turning it over once. 

That's how you bounce back. 

- Jordan Walsh: I honestly don’t know who this guy is. I truly thought there was a chance he’d get cut after training camp to save a few bucks. Now here he is closing a game out against the Knicks. The Walsh out there in the fourth quarter was legit. Incredible stuff. 

- Josh Minott: Look … the form on his jumper is horrible. That thing has no business going in. But he’s shooting 43% on the season so I think I’m just going to STFU and let him ride the wave. Hopefully he can ride it all the way to shore. He shot 3-5 from 3, including one in that fourth quarter run to hold the Knicks off. 

- Derrick White: He finished with 22 points and though he didn’t shoot it particularly great, his timing was good. He led the Celtics with seven points in the fourth. 

- Anfernee Simons: 12 points and three assists off the bench. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- The six-point play: The Celtics inexperience showed up in a rough way as Gonzalez committed a flagrant landing space foul on a 3-point shot, and then Minott fouled Towns on the continued possession. The Knicks also added a 3-pointer after that and it looked like the Celtics were going to find another creative way to blow it. 

Mikal Bridges: He made eight 3-pointers, four of them in the fourth quarter. That was insanity. 

HIGHLIGHTS

THREE TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- This game was actually easier than it looked. 

The Celtics were down 11 after the first quarter but Josh Hart had 11 points on 3-3 shooting from deep. The Celtics were okay with that. And Bridges going 8-12 from 3 was a little over the top as well. 

If the Knicks have a little of a more normal night, the early complexion of this game looks different, and so does the end of it.

I’m not trying to let the Celtics off the hook for some of the things that went wrong, but sometimes the other team does things that are out of the ordinary too. 

- Neemias Queta’s ankle sprain might have changed the season. 

Jay King of The Athletic brought this up during the game: The Celtics got lucky Queta sprained his ankle because they were forced to go smaller more often and give it a chance to work. If he never got hurt, we’d have seen a heavy dose of Luka Garza in this game. 

The small-ball thing is working for them in the right situations, but they might not have gone to those had things gone a little differently. 

Also, Garza probably doesn’t think the way things turned out is very “lucky” right now. 

- Are we ready to lump these guys in with the Patriots yet? 

Okay, no, I understand it’s not the same. The Pats are the best team in the NFL right now and the Celtics are 12-9 with a recent stretch of impressive wins, but some cringy losses in the not-too-distant past.

At the same time, look at these guys go! They're fun! And they're making so much progress!

“We showed flashes early,” Brown said. “We had some good wins early. We beat Cleveland early, we had some good wins early, even that Detroit game, our fourth game of the season, we showed some really good flashes. So it's been there, it's always been there. We just have to put it together just a little bit more consistently. I think that's the nature of the league: How consistent can you be? So that's what we're trying to put together.”

I know the answer to this question is “no,” but also, it’s not an immediate “no” from everyone, and that's how this all starts. 

The Patriots are an unexpectedly fun team that's playing well. The Celtics are the same. 

Next Up: The Celtics visit the Washington Wizards on Thursday night.