How Celtics Shifted Momentum In Third Quarter To Defeat Knicks
Defense and bench production gave Boston a boost
The Boston Celtics were deadlocked in another battle with the New York Knicks on Monday night at TD Garden.
After Boston barely edged out a gritty win in the season opener in New York, the script looked similar in Boston. Jalen Brunson drove the offense and the Knicks consistently made plays on the glass. The Celtics ended the first half on a 9-2 run but needed more to start the third quarter.
Boston found that life with improved rebounding, better defensive effort and an offensive boost from the bench with Al Horford, Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard.
“It was the second unit,” Jayson Tatum told Abby Chin after the win, per NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “They came in with that burst of energy. They made winning plays. I fed off that energy. Al coming out and chasing down rebounds and contesting shots at the rim. Payton making the extra pass to Sam. I’m just feeding off that energy and we were getting stops.”
“Making it tough, no second-chance points was the key,” Jaylen Brown told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage.
Boston’s head coach was pleased to see an enhanced effort out of the break to disrupt a quality first-half rhythm from the Knicks.
“We did a good job, especially in the second half, of running in transition when we had it,” Joe Mazzulla told Abby Chin after the win, per NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “We did a good job controlling the pace with our execution. Changing matchups and changing defenses keeping them off-kilter. They’re a very good offensive rhythm team. We were able to go to a couple of different things.”
Boston outscored New York 32-23 in the third quarter, and 17 points from Tatum in the fourth quarter helped the Celtics pull away for the 114-98 victory and their second win of the season over the Knicks.
The Celtics look for their fourth-consecutive win on Wednesday night in another matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers.
