The Celtics held on to beat the New York Knicks 123-117 Tuesday night at TD Garden after nearly blowing another double digit lead in the fourth quarter.
Jaylen Brown notched a second 40-point performance in the last three games and fourth overall this season, to finish with 42 points on 16-of-24 from the field to go along with four rebounds and four assists. Despite seeing different coverages throughout the contest, C's coach Joe Mazzulla was pleased with Brown's play in a statement win over an Eastern Conference contender.
"I thought tonight he did a great job just taking what the defense gave him, but then also making plays for others," Mazzulla said in his postgame presser. "And, he played against three different coverages tonight, and I thought he was really good against multiple coverages there. So I just kind of let him do his thing and just really talk to him, mostly about what the spacing is like, what the matchups are like, what the coverages are like, what to expect. And, he does the rest."
Derrick White returned to the lineup following a one-game absence with a calf contusion to add 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting and five assists, while Anfernee Simons chipped in 12 points off the bench on 5-of-9 from the floor to help improve Boston to 12-9 in the standings and winning four of their last five.
Mikal Bridges scored 17 of his 35 in the final 12 minutes, hitting 8-of-12 from deep to lead the Knicks to a near comeback down the stretch. Karl Anthony Towns finished with 29 points and Josh Hart had 19 points for New York, who fell to 13-7 on the year.
The Celtics trailed 17-4 to start the first period before using a 19-7 spurt midway through the second to grab their first lead and never looked back -- sitting on a 58-59 advantage at the break and holding the visiting team to 20 points, while Brown scored 18 of his own in second quarter alone.
Boston kept pouring it on in the third, leading by as many as 18 and Brown netted another 15 in the period. Once again the C's looked like they were going to cruise to victory with eight minutes left in the final frame and a 102-87 lead before New York went on a 12-0 run to cut the deficit and make it 102-99.
Josh Minott (11 points, six rebounds) hit a 3-pointer out of a timeout and Jordan Walsh (eight points, six rebounds) converted back-to-back putbacks to make it an eight point lead for the Celtics and New York never got within any closer than four in the final 46 seconds left to play.
Meanwhile, All-Star Jalen Brunson was held to only 15 points on 6-of-21 shooting, despite handing out 11 assists for the Knicks, who got their season-high four-game win streak snapped.
The Celtics have now beaten four of the top six teams in the East over the last 10 days, their toughest stretch of the young season. They'll head to the nation's capital on Thursday to face the Washington Wizards (3-17) before returning home Friday night to host the Los Angeles Lakers (15-5) on another back-to-back.
Game Notes:
Boston hit 56% of their shot attempts (49-of-87), including 13-of-40 from deep (32%), while the Knicks converted 51% from the field (43-of-85) and 19-of-44 from 3-point range (43%). The Celtics out-rebounded New York 38-33 and outscored them in the paint 56-42.
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