Jayson Tatum scored the first points on the season off the glass on a two pointer to get things started. The Celtics used three pointers from Tatum, new Celtic Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to open a 24-13 lead with 2 minutes left in the first quarter. The score at the end of the first was 30-18, a good start.
Things went south in the second quarter as the Knicks battled back thanks to the efforts of RJ Barrett. Quentin Grimes hit a big three to cut the lead to a few points although Tatum kept the Celtics in the lead with some big shots. The Celtics looked to have a good lead going into halftime but Isaiah Hartenstein tipped in a shot at the buzzer with the Celtics only up 51-46 going into the break.
The third quarter started with a 7-2 Celtics run highlighted by a running Tatum slam dunk but the Knicks held on. The Knicks went on a 15-6 run highlighted by a Julius Randle three pointer to cut the lead 64-63 with 5:48 remaining in the quarter. After the Knicks tied it, the Celtics retook the lead then got a big three by Al Horford. Horford keyed the run that ended with a Porzingis putback that gave the Celtics a 82-73 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Celtics took their foot off the gas and they almost reverted to last year's team as the Knicks went on a 11-4 run to pull within a point. Then Josh Hart hit a three pointer to give the Knicks their first lead of the game with 8:57 remaining as Celtics fan groaned. With the Knicks leading 90-88, Porzingis hit a three with 5:48 remaining to put the Celtics back on top. With the score tied at 93, the Knicks went on a run where Randle and Grimes hit back to back threes to put the Knicks up 6 with 4 minutes left. Grimes was fouled on the play but he missed the free throw which cost them dearly. The lead was 101-95 Knicks with 3:23 remaining when the Celtics took control. With Knicks fans chanting expletives at Kristaps, Tatum found Holiday for a layup that keyed a 6-0 run to tie the game. Then with 90 seconds left Porzingis hit a backbreaking three to put the Celtics on top to stop the chants against him. He hit two free throws and Payton Pritchard hit two free throws of his own to wrap up the scoring. The Knicks failed to score off an inbounds play and the Celtics had won it 108-104.
Hero of the Night is Kristaps Porzingis. He scored 30 points with five big three pointers, grabbed 8 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. His three with 1:34 left put the Celtics up for good.
Bawful Report:
Scalabrine Award for DNP-CD - Lamar Stevens, Oshae Brissett, Neemias Queta, Svi Mykhailuk, Dalano Banton and Jordan Walsh.
End Rant:
This was NOT a game the Celtics would have won a year ago. Usually when things went south the Celtics would try to do too much and go hero ball. Marcus Smart, Brown & Tatum would try to play the hero and it usually never worked. Having KP to settle things down and actually hit a big shot makes the difference in the world. The Celtics went on 15-5 run to end the game and that's the element that was missing last year under Joe Mazzulla. There were still a LOT of things wrong in the game including Jaylen Brown being awful and Mazzulla only using 9 guys in the game, but having a guy that can take over a game pays big dividends in the end. The deadly part is Brown had an off-night, what's going to happen on nights he's red hot? If he starts drawing double teams, Tatum or Porzingis will be wide open. That's good news for Boston and bad news for everyone else. The Celtics have the whole season to get Brown on track and find some semblance of a bench rotation, hopefully Mazzulla can take a step in year two as a coach. The Celtics are back in action Friday night and they better bring their A game because up next is the defending Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat. Jimmy Butler & Tyler Herro come to town Friday night at 7:30 PM at TD Garden.
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