Knicks guard Trey Burke scored a game-high 29 points off the bench, none bigger than his dagger 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining to seal Wednesday's 117-109 win over the Boston Celtics.
"He carried us home," head coach David Fizdale said, according to the New York Post's Marc Berman.
New York, which led by as many as 26 points in the first half, saw its lead cut to 112-109 late in the fourth quarter after a Jaylen Brown free throw.
But on the Knicks' following possession and the shot clock running down, Burke hit a straightaway 3-pointer over Jayson Tatum that made it a two-possession game and silenced the TD Garden crowd.
"That was crazy when I heard it,'' said Burke, who also added 11 assists. "These are passionate fans just like ours are. It's satisfying. It's showing signs of growth for us. We can play with the best of the best in the league. A lot of games we're counted out but we have talent here."
Burke scored nine of his 29 points in the fourth quarter. His step-back jumper with 2:28 made it 110-98, but the Celtics followed with an 8-0 run on a Marcus Morris 3-pointer, Kyrie Irving layup and Gordon Hayward 3 that made it 110-106.
Down the stretch, the Knicks kept putting the ball in Burke's hands, and he kept coming through. His 20-foot jumper with 50.2 seconds left pushed it back to a six-point game, but Al Horford and Brown hit 3 of 4 free throws to make it three.
Then came his trey over Tatum.
"It's a shot I work on every day and it dropped,'' Burke said.
Not only did Burke's big game snap New York's six-game losing streak, but it came against a Celtics team that was considered favorites in the Eastern Conference once LeBron James left Cleveland for Los Angeles.
Still, even though the Knicks have the fourth-worst record in the league at 5-14, they believe they can use Wednesday's win as momentum heading into Friday's game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
"We showed signs of being young, but in the storm you learn about yourself and figure how to get out of it,'' Burke said. "It's big win for us to build off of.''