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Key moment
Third-quarter woes appear to be a thing of the past for the Boston Celtics, as they emerged from the All-Star break with two straight wins, both fueled by big runs just after halftime.
On Thursday night, a 37-21 third-quarter lead sparked a 129-112 victory in Chicago. Then on Saturday night, a 33-13 third-quarter stretch served as the climax to a 116-102 victory in New York.
Now, let’s dive into the latest performance that just took place at Madison Square Garden.
It was a close game for most of the first half and everything was tied at 64 points apiece with just over a minute left in the third quarter. It took the C’s just nine minutes to turn that tie into a 20-point lead.
Kristaps Porzingis, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took charge in this stretch, scoring 24 of the team’s 33 points. KP scored nine points, JT eight, and JB contributed seven, although they only missed two shots in total (they were 9 of 11 during this stretch).
Their combined effort put the Celtics up 97-77 with just over a minute left in the third, a quarter in which they made nine of their first 11 3-point attempts. From there, they achieved their eighth consecutive victory.
Key player
While Rainn Wilson was sitting courtside Saturday night, Jaylen Brown was making Wilson rain on the court at Madison Square Garden.
Brown burst out of the gate with 20 first-half points on 9-of-12 shooting, mirroring his first-half scoring total from Thursday night’s win in Chicago. It was the first time in his career that he recorded consecutive 20-point first halves, and he did it Saturday night in just 17 minutes.
Brown finished with 30 points and eight rebounds, both team highs. He also dished out three assists, had a steal and tied Jayson Tatum for the game-high in plus/minus with a plus-15.
For JB, it was just another day on The Office.
Box Score Nuggets
- Jaylen Brown led the Celtics in both points (30) and rebounds (eight).
- Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 34 points and nine assists.
- Kristaps Porzingis scored 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting against his former Knicks team.
- The Celtics shot 57.5 percent (46 of 80) from the field.
- Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White led the C’s with six assists each.
- Boston grabbed seven of its 10 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, including four on one possession.
- Al Horford grabbed nearly half of those offensive rebounds and finished with four.
- The Celtics were 9 of 13 from long range in the third quarter.
- Boston outscored New York 58-38 in the paint.
Date of the night
“I prefer any kind of emotion to no emotion. So it’s either applause or boos, I want it.”
– Kristaps Porzingis on taking the boos in New York