Final: Celtics 114, Knicks 107 - Josh Richardson saves Celtics with monster shooting night

Game 30
Boston Celtics (14-15, 7-5 home, T-9th East) vs. New York Knicks (13-16, 8-6 road, 12th East)
TD Garden
7:00 PM - NBC Sports Boston, NBA TV

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Aaron Nesmith, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams

New York: Derrick Rose, Alec Burks, Evan Fournier, Julius Randle, Nerlens Noel

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Boston Health & Safety Protocols: Al Horford, Grant Williams, Jabari Parker, Juancho Hernangomez, Sam Hauser, Brodric Thomas.

- Also out for Boston: Dennis Schroder (non-COVID illness), Romeo Langford (neck pain)

- New York Health & Safety Protocols: RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, Quentin Grimes, Kevin Knox, Miles McBride, Immanuel Quickley 

- Boston has signed Justin Jackson to a 10-day hardship contract. He’s available tonight. Boston is dressing 10 players.

- Celtics are favored by 5.5

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Jaylen Brown’s minutes: The Celtics were careful to bring him back slowly from his hamstring injury but now they're forced to use him in heavy minutes due to all the outages. Both of these teams are decimated by COVID but the Celtics have most of their starting lineup. It would be great for the Celtics to storm out to a lead and put this game away early so Brown won’t be forced into heavy minutes. 

2. Who surprises?: One of these teams is going to have someone seemingly out of nowhere come up with a big performance. Who will it be? Hello, Aaron Nesmith, welcome to your opportunity.

3. Kemba Walker’s revenge: He fell out of the rotation but he’s going to be forced into big minutes because of the situation. Don’t be shocked if he comes out firing in an effort to put on a show here.

GAME THREAD

Stick around for more comments below as the game goes on. Feel free to add your two cents in the comments.