BOSTON -- Heading into the night, both teams needed a win. The Boston Celtics lost their season opener in brutal fashion, blowing a 22-point lead to the Detroit Pistons. They didn't want to disappoint their fans in the home opener.
Meanwhile, the New York Knicks also lost their first game of the year. It was Ring Night. The Knicks' chance to celebrate. But by the end of the night, the Philadelphia 76ers had the last laugh.
So, Friday night gave both sides a chance to get on track. Avoid starting the season 0-2. But only one team could get that.
It was a close battle. The Celtics were up by one at halftime, but neither side was playing very well. Both teams needed a big second-half push.
The Celtics got that in the third quarter. Jayson Tatum and Neemias Queta were great. The energy belonged to Boston. But the Knicks never die.
When the fourth rolled around, the Knicks did what the Knicks do. They are cockroaches. You just can't get rid of them. So, naturally, it was a one-possession game with under four minutes to go.
A Jalen Brunson bucket. A Tatum drive. A Josh Hart three. A Brunson bucket. A Tatum turnaround middy. Both sides were fighting for their lives.
As the clock inched toward one minute left, Tatum drew an offensive foul on Karl-Anthony Towns. An illegal screen. TD Garden erupted. But Boston was still only up by three.
On the very next possession, it looked like the Knicks had Tatum clamped. But he rose up and nailed a huge mid-range to keep Boston in front by two possessions. And then, a triple.
Tatum completely took over. Friday night is a perfect example of why the Celtics put the ball in his hands. Boston just barely scraped by with a victory.
Up: Neemias Queta
For a while, the stats didn't match the on-court product. Queta was hustling and flying around the court, but his impact wasn't fully reflected by a relatively lackluster box score.
That changed in the third quarter. Queta was a monster. His rebounding was impressive, his offensive presence was there, and he even nailed a corner three.
Queta completely changed the momentum of this game in the third. It felt like a neck-and-neck contest for a while, but Boston stormed ahead in the third. The Celtics weren't even up by that much on paper, but the life of the game felt like it had changed.
If the Celtics can get this version of Queta every night, he should be playing the most minutes of the centers, and it's not particularly close. He was a monster against the Knicks.
Down: Mitchell Robinson
Since we're on the topic of bigs, this was a less-than-ideal second game for Mitchell Robinson. Even after he said he was disappointed with his performance in the season opener against the Detroit Pistons.
There were flashes of something great in the preseason, but overall, Robinson looked out of place and slow. So far this regular season, the latter has held up.
For much of this game, Robinson just seemed a bit out of shape. He was lumbering up and down the court, and there were a few moments when it seemed like he was just going through the motions.
Foul trouble plagued him throughout the contest, and the offensive impact didn't really show up. Queta and Garza outplayed him by a mile.
Robinson showed some signs of life in the fourth. He had a monster block. A huge alley-oop. But the fouls caught up to him.
Up: Paul George's