The Knicks won’t be able to fully assess their ability against the Celtics until they face them in the playoffs, and until they do so at full strength.
And even that may not be enough.
In Saturday night’s nationally televised showcase game, the Knicks were even with the NBA’s best-performing team until the beginning of the second half, but the Celtics outscored coach Tom Thibodeau’s team in the third and fourth quarters. , suffered a disappointing loss 116-102. garden.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks (34-23) with 34 points, and Josh Hart contributed 16 points and eight rebounds. But Donte DiVincenson, Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks combined to miss 21 of 30 shots for the Knicks, who beat the Sixers on the road Thursday night and ended their winning streak at four. .
For the Celtics, Jaylen Brown scored a team-high 30 points, former Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis had 22 points and Jayson Tatum added 19 points.
As Thibodeau noted earlier Saturday, the Knicks have been playing without their “starting front line” of center Mitchell Robinson and forwards Julius Randle and OG Anunoby, all of whom are regulars. He hopes to return to action before the end of the season. .
The Knicks didn’t play in the first 21 games of the season before adding OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa in a late-December trade with the Raptors, then adding Bogdanovic and Burks in another loan deal with the Pistons earlier this month. They lost to Boston three times. .
With eight straight wins, the Celtics’ record of 45 wins and 12 losses puts them at the top of the NBA, 8.0 games behind the Cavaliers for second place in the Eastern Conference.
“If you study it, you look at their record and you see how good they are,” Thibodeau said before the game.
“This is a team with few holes.”
Brunson made his first two 3-pointers and scored nine of his 13 points in the first quarter in the first four minutes, giving the Knicks a quick 14-10 lead.
But Brown sank two buckets from long range early on, making 10 of his 20 in the period as the Celtics built a 30-26 advantage with one.
A Bogdanovic turnover led to a breakaway layup by Peyton Pritchard, making it an eight-point lead just two minutes into the game.
Bogdanovic scored 22 points in Thursday’s road win over the Sixers, making all six 3-pointers and hitting a triple after a turnover to help the Knicks cut the deficit to three points.
Miles McBride, who was ruled out due to illness, scored nine points in the quarter, but Brown fed Porzingis inside and the former Knick made a traditional 3-point play to cut Boston’s cushion to 10. Pushed him to score.
But the MSG crowd was thrilled when Porzingis drew a technical foul for claiming a non-call moments later, and Brunson scored six of his 19 points in the first half, helping the Knicks lead 62-58 by halftime. contributed to reducing the
Hart contributed a key offensive rebound/bucket and coast-to-coast drive in that second-half sequence.
Hart also sank a 3-pointer on a Knicks possession early in the third quarter, and Brunon’s converted 3-point play tied the score at 64 just one minute after intermission.
Still, in just two minutes of play, Derrick White, Porzingis, Tatum and Brown hit triples to restore the Celtics’ double-digit lead at 76-66.
Holiday then increased that to 13 on Boston’s 12th of his first 21 attempts from beyond the arc (57.1 percent).
Yet another trey from Tatum sparked a 33-13 overtime run that widened the Knicks hole to 20 points with less than two minutes left in the period.
But Brunson’s two late free throws cut the gap to 13 points entering the fourth, and Bogdanovic’s mid-range jumper tied the Knicks within three minutes of the fourth.
However, Al Horford’s three straight offensive rebounds gave the Celtics a 17-0 run to make it 107-90 with less than seven minutes remaining.
