On Friday night the Boston Celtics welcomed the New York Knicks to Boston in the consolation game for the losers in the east quarterfinals of the In-Season Tournament. This game wasn’t on the schedule at the beginning of the year because of the In-Season Tournament. There were a handful of Knicks fans that felt the schedule was at their disadvantage playing Boston so many times this early in the season, but at some point you have to beat the teams in front of you and the Knicks had a chance to do that on Friday night.

First Quarter

Boston was happy to get Kristaps Porzingis back in it’s starting lineup after missing a handful of games and his impact was immediately felt. Porzingis opened the scoring with a dunk and then hit back to back 3-pointers scoring the Celtics first 8 points in a matter of seconds. The Knicks would quickly answer back though and tie the game up at 11 with 8:30 to go in the first quarter.

The Knicks have given the Celtics tough matchups all season and this game was no different as both teams were trading shots throughout the first quarter. The first quarter would end with both teams in a virtual stalemate with the Celtics leading only by 1 after a Payton Pritchard layup beat the buzzer to end the quarter.

Second Quarter

The second quarter would start just how the first ended with both teams trading shots in rapid succession. Jayson Tatum who was scoreless in the first would finally get on the board with a layup two minutes into the second quarter to give the Celtics a 39-36 lead. RJ Barrett was back in the lineup for the Knicks and had 8 points through his first 12 minutes back and was making his impact felt on both ends.

Both sides would continue to exchange lead changes with more than 7 happening in the first half. Porzingis would continue his great start hitting a 3-pointer and then a pair of free throws with 5 minutes to go in the quarter to give Boston a 57-54 lead.  A late half push led by Porzingis and Al Horford would give the Celtics their largest lead of the night headed into halftime leading 74-65 with Porzingis leading all scorers with 19 points.

• Boston Celtics on Twitter: "Breakaway Jay coming through 👀 pic.twitter.com/RKsC4bw01C / Twitter"

  Breakaway Jay coming through 👀 pic.twitter.com/RKsC4bw01C

  Third Quarter

  Boston has had it’s struggles in the third quarter this year and was looking to change that tonight, opening the quarter with a flurry of baskets to give them their first double digit lead of the night 77-67 with 10:15 left in the quarter. Derrick White would catch fire halfway through the third hitting back to back 3-pointers to give Boston a 92-79 lead as he was up to 24 points in the game.

  The Celtics looked like they were on a mission to exercise some of those third quarter demons as everyone got in on the scoring including back to back buckets by Jaylen Brown to give Boston a 20-point lead 99-79 with just over 5 minutes left in the quarter. Boston was relentless on both ends in the third led by White having maybe his best game in a Celtics uniform which is saying something for a player who’s been nothing but great since he was acquired. Every Celtics starter had over 12 points and was shooting over 50% from the field leading the Celtics into the fourth with a 109-95 lead.

   

   

   

• grown man's jam 😤 pic.twitter.com/lOqCTXaf2B

  — Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 9, 2023

  Fourth Quarter

  The fourth quarter would start with Al Horford turning back the clock (maybe not going to Vegas and getting a few extra days of rest with no travel helped) hitting buckets and impacting the game defensively. Boston would lead by 15 for most of the quarter but would need to hold onto this lead to avoid some bad habits the team has had late in games. The Celtics wouldn’t be without some trouble though as Jaylen Brown was ejected while on the bench after arguing a call.

  After the Brown ejection the Knicks would go on a 15-5 run capped off by a Josh Hart 3-pointer to make it a 119-112 game.  This would be as close as the Knicks would get as Boston would find it’s form in the last 5 minutes and extend their lead to 123-112 with 3:13 left in the game. Boston would hold on after the Knicks closed the gap to 8 but Derrick White who scored 30 points for only the second time in his career made sure that was as close as they’d get, with Boston winning 133-123.

   

  Scaz’s takeaways 

  • Boston continues to dominate at home
  • Derrick White should be an all-star
  • NBA refs think fans pay to see them
  • Boston still has trouble closing out games

   

   

   

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