Although the Knicks made a change to their starting lineup, it was their defense that failed them as they fell to the Celtics, 133-123 on Friday night in Boston.
The new starting five were Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, Donte DiVincenzo and Mitchell Robinson.
Here are the takeaways….
- Before the game, coach Tom Thibodeau put DiVincenzo in for Quentin Grimes. Of course, this comes days after Grimes voiced his frustrations with his role in the offense, so the timing is a bit curious but it worked out for Grimes.
Grimes didn’t get into the game until a couple of minutes before the end of the first quarter. He would make his first shot, a three, before missing his second, which was also a three. He was in with Josh Hart, Isaiah Hartenstein, Randle, and Immanuel Quickley.
But he began the second quarter with the same unit, with Barrett in for Randle. He was on the floor with a different mix of players. Grimes would finally sit after nine straight minutes, in that time he went 3-for-5, 2-for-4 from three, and an assist with Brunson and Randle on the floor.
The third-year guard finished with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting (3-of-7 from three) with two assists and one rebound after 19:23 on the floor.
-DiVincenzo, although he started, was on and off the bench. The first-year Knick finished with six points on 2-of-6 shooting (2-of-5 from three), four rebounds and one assist in 22 minutes. He was on the floor to end the game.
-In the early going, the Celtics took advantage of the poor defense in the lane. Boston’s players were driving and getting easy scores, which the Knicks would clamp down on in the middle stages of the opening frame. However, the paint would open up again in the final minutes as the Celtics took a Quickley miss with seconds remaining the length of the court for Payton Pritchard to lay it in before the buzzer.
The interior defense wasn’t much of an issue in the second quarter, but the Celtics were efficient in their shot selection and ability to get the mismatch. Those mismatches allowed Boston to end the first half up by nine points. Both teams were shooting lights out, with New York hitting 54 percent of their shots while the Celtics were shooting at a 58 percent clip. The Bucks on Tuesday scored 75 points at the half, while Boston has 74 points.
Boston shot lights out in the third quarter, especially from three. They shot 7-for-11 from downtown. A flurry of threes by the Knicks led to a 9-0 run to cut Boston's lead to 11, but an Al Horford three as the buzzer sounded kept the Celtics up 109-95 after three. It's the second straight game the Knicks allowed 100-plus points after three quarters.
-The best the Knicks looked defensively was at the start of the fourth quarter with Grimes, Barrett, Quickley, Hartenstein and Hart on the floor. They would chip away at the Celtics lead, getting it down to seven points, but careless play and cold shooting allowed Boston to keep their double-digit lead and eventually win 133-123.
-The Celtics’ big three of Kristaps Porzingis, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum continued their masterful seasons. Porzingis, who missed the last four games with a calf strain, did not miss a shot until the end of the second quarter. He was 7-for-7 with 19 points, including 3-of-3 from three before his first miss. He finished with 21 points and three rebounds.
Tatum, on the other hand, didn’t score his first points until the second quarter, but would get more involved as the game went on. The forward scored 25 points and came down with six rebounds and dished five assists.
Brown started slow, as well, but got his points. He had foul trouble, picking up his fifth in the fourth, but he would get ejected after picking up back-to-back technicals after arguing with the referees. He finished with 17 points, four rebounds and a block.
Derrick White had a game-high 30 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
-Robinson was not with the team at the start of the second half. The MSG broadcast said that they saw him limping into the locker room, but he would rejoin his team a few minutes into the third quarter.The center would enter the game in the third but played just five minutes. The big man finished with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and eight rebounds in 19 minutes of play.
In extended play, Hartenstein scored five points and came down with 16 rebounds in 29 minutes.
-Brunson (23), Barrett (23), and Randle (20) rounded out the scoring from the starters while Quickley led the bench with 17 points.