Kemba Walker, Celtics storm by Knicks with lights out second half

By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com

It's too early to identify definitive trends, but in just their third game of the year, the Boston Celtics appeared poised for another rough shooting road night through the first 24 minutes of their Saturday night head-to-head with the New York Knicks.

With New York scoring 13 of the first 15 points of the night, Brad Stevens' group successfully played catch-up throughout the first half, but entered the half trailing by five points, but entered the half down by five points. It was solely thanks to some straight-up dreadful shooting, too, with perhaps no one struggling more than Jayson Tatum (1-for-9, 0-for-3 from deep).

In fact, Kemba Walker was the only Celtic with double-digit points, with 11 in his first 18:21 of action.

But led by a lights out second half, with makes on 26 of their 44 attempts (59.1 percent), the Celtics stormed by the Knicks in their home opener by a 118-95 final at Madison Square Garden.

That second-half surge really began and ended with Walker, as he dropped a team-high 21 points in the second half, and made all but one of his nine attempts from the field. Walker was especially lethal from deep, going 5-for-6 from beyond the arc. That was enough a seven three-point night from the New York native, the most by any Celtic since Jaylen Brown dropped seven against the Chicago Bulls on Apr. 6, 2018. It was also Walker's first 30-point night since joining the Celtics on a max deal.

Behind Walker's 32, Brown finished with 19 points (second-most on the C's), while Tatum finished with 15.

The Celtics also dominated the Knicks in fastbreak points, with 16 for Boston compared to just for the Knicks.

The Celtics will return to Boston for a Wednesday night meeting against the Bucks.