The Celtics visited New York and, despite some sloppy play, maintained their slim hold on the first seed by destroying a terrible Knicks team, 110-94. Boston never trailed in notching their 50th win for the first time since the 2010-11 season. Six Celtics scored in double figures, led by Isaiah Thomas’ 19 points in just 24 minutes.
The Game Flow:
For the second straight game, the Cs were without Avery Bradley (illness). The Knicks were without Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose (who’s now out for the end of the season with a knee problem). Jaylen Brown started for Bradley, but got sent to the bench in the first minute after screwing up a set play on the first possession, which ended in a turnover.
The Knicks didn’t appear interested in playing any defense as the Celtics took an early 10-2 lead, highlighted by an Amir Johnson three-pointer. That continued through the quarter, as Boston shot 12 of 18, including 4-9 on threes. IT led with 10 points, and Jaylen bounced back to score five on a dunk and a trey. The Cs’ lead reached 16, but when the Knicks’ Courtney Lee hit a deep three at the buzzer, the margin was 34-23.
It was more of the same in the second quarter. The Celts got the lead as high as 19 and by halftime were shooting 60% on 21 of 35, including seven triples. However, going to the locker room, the difference was just 60-47. Boston’s advantage should’ve been greater, but in the final minute the Knicks made two straight from the arc and Marcus Smart botched two possessions – one with an absurd deep airball in an attempt to get a two-for-one, and the other with a bad inbounds pass after Brad Stevens had called time with three seconds left to set up a play. The Celts’ nine turnovers sabotaged what should have been a blowout in the making.
The third quarter began with an amusing moment. The Knicks set up a lob pass that was dunked by Kristaps Porzingis, but Al Horford thought the shot missed. He grabbed the “rebound” while everyone else chuckled. Except for Brad, who called timeout a few seconds later to probably ask if anyone had been listening to him during halftime.
The Celts responded with a 7-2 burst: a Horford paint fallaway, an IT three, and Al’s dunk in transition. More weirdness followed when Horford drained a corner three, but the whistle blew and Isaiah was mysteriously hit with his 14th technical of the season (two more and he’ll be suspended). Moments later, Al threw down another huge jam, IT drained another trey, and then Smart was T’d up. (Maybe he was upset because, a few plays earlier, Porzingis had had been draped all over him and yet a foul was whistled on Marcus.) In the final moments, Jaylen had a highlight dunk off a Smart lob pass, made two free throws after an offensive rebound, and smothered the Knicks’ last shot of the quarter. After three, Boston was up, 88-71.
Smart opened the fourth quarter scoring by swishing a three, and a minute later Terry Rozier hit an acrobatic and-one layup (but missed the FT), pushing the lead to 93-71. There was still another highlight to come: Smart hammered down a hellacious, left-handed dunk off a Rozier lob, igniting the bench, giving Boston a 25-point lead, and signaling garbage time. Of note: the Knicks missed 15 shots in a row starting late in the third, and didn’t score in the fourth until just 7:24 remained.
- Boston was hit with a delay-of-game technical less than six minutes into the first quarter. Crowder had punched the ball out of bounds in frustration after missing a free throw.
- Rough moments for Jonas Jerebko in the fourth quarter. Celts ran a play for him, but he was stuffed at the rim by Kyle O’Quinn. Jonas got another chance; same result. At the other end, Jerebko tried to snatch a rebound and instead lost it out of bounds off his own knee. But Jonas played 22 minutes, and the Cs are now 16-2 when he goes 20+ minutes (h/t Max Lederman).
- Crowder’s elbow swelled up. X-rays were negative but the problem was unclear immediately after the game.
- The game was on ABC, and with the Knicks for some reason celebrating their team that reached the 1999 Finals (which they didn’t even win), and with a blowout happening, there was so much blah blah blah. We really missed Mike and Tommy.
- And finally, a rough moment for Amir.
Man fck Kyle O'Quinn pic.twitter.com/Kj9bAdUzuc
— KWAPT (@KWAPT) April 2, 2017
As KWAPT put it on Twitter, the Celts had a throwdown party in Madison Square Garden. Jaylen led the way with several massive jams. Here are some highlights.
💪HORFORD💪 pic.twitter.com/ewR8PgHawc
— KWAPT (@KWAPT) April 2, 2017
✈️@FCHWPO pic.twitter.com/6Mmxda3GHF
— KWAPT (@KWAPT) April 2, 2017
Another look at Rozier to Smart: pic.twitter.com/KPZoutLuaD
— KWAPT (@KWAPT) April 2, 2017
With his 19 points today, Isaiah extended two streaks: he’s now had 93 straight games with at least 15 points and 72 in a row with 18 or more points. That’s the league high in each category. (h/t Chris Forsberg and Jay King) IT also was able to rest for the entire fourth quarter. Here’s one of his hoops from the first half.
Pretty: pic.twitter.com/5C4xRB24fa
— KWAPT (@KWAPT) April 2, 2017
The Grid:
- James Young made a beautiful block of a layup attempt in the late fourth quarter.
- Jaylen didn’t let the early benching stop him from scoring 16 points on 5-6 shooting (2-3 from deep).
- Celtics shot 40-72 (55.6%). They made 12-37 threes.
- Knicks: 33-85 (38.8%), 7-25 on threes.
- Turnovers: Celtics 17, Knicks 11
- Rebounds: Celtics 41, Knicks 32
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