The Knicks were defeated by the Boston Celtics 123-110 in Tuesday night's preseason game at TD Garden.
Here are some takeaways...
- With back-to-back games to close out the preseason, a number of New York's starters didn't make the trip to Boston, so Tom Thibodeau turned to a starting five of Deuce McBride, Donte DiVincenzo, Quentin Grimes, Jericho Sims and Mitchell Robinson.
- Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla, on the other hand, told reporters pregame that he wanted to start ramping up his starters to get them closer to regular-season minutes. He countered with a lineup of Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jalen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and old friend Kristaps Porzingis.
- Both teams were letting it fly from downtown early on, as they combined to make a total of nine threes over the first six minutes of the game, two of which came from Grimes. Things were knotted up until Boston went on a 17-4 run midway through the opening quarter to create some separation. Nine Celtics threes helped them jump out to a 41-30 lead at the end of the first frame.
McBride picked up where he left off in New York's loss to the Timberwolves, getting off to a strong start in this one. The point guard played the whole first quarter and put up a team-high nine points and dished out two assists.
- New York went cold to open the second and Boston's starters returned to the floor and continued their red-hot shooting. The Celtics made four more threes and used a 12-0 run to push their lead up to as much as 25. The Knicks would respond with a push of their own, though, and cut the deficit to 18 heading into the break (78-60).
The Celtics shot a stellar 54 percent from the field and 55 percent from behind the arc in the first half. Tatum led all scorers with 23 points, followed by Porzingis, who contributed 13 of his own.
For the Knicks, Sims was the only starter who wasn't able to break the double digit mark, and McBride pushed his team-high total to 12 with a late three. Isaiah Hartenstein contributed seven points and three rebounds off the bench and Isaiah Roby made his only two shots for six quick points.
- Thibodeau and the Knicks made some big-time halftime adjustments and they came out flying on both ends of the court. Grimes' seventh three of the night, followed by a McBride lay-in high off the glass, brought New York within single digits (eight). The Celtics responded back, though, and extended the lead back up to 12 heading into the final frame (100-88).
- Hartenstein and Roby came off the bench with six points to open the fourth, and the Knicks again cut it to a single-digit game, but the big deficit ultimately proved to be too much. Behind their high-powered offense, Boston held on for the 123-110 win in the third of four preseason games.
Grimes was spectacular for the Knicks, making seven threes to finish with a team-high 21 points. McBride finished close behind him with 16 points of his own and DiVincenzo had 15 and made three threes.
Both Robinson (12 points, 7 rebounds) and Hartenstein (13 points, 8 rebounds) enjoyed nice nights underneath for New York. Roby provided a nice spark off with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting.