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Alder Almo - Philstar.com
April 9, 2025 | 1:35pm
Karl-Anthony Towns (No. 32) of the New York Knicks passes under pressure from Kristaps Porzingis (No. 8), Derrick White (No. 9) and Jayson Tatum (No. 0) of the Boston Celtics at the Madison Square Garden on April 08, 2025 in New York City. The Celtics defeated the New York Knicks, 119-117, in overtime.
Elsa / Getty Images / AFP
NEW YORK, United States – The defending champions Boston Celtics swept the New York Knicks in their season series with a thrilling 119-117 escape act in overtime at the Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (Wednesday Manila time).
Kristaps Porzingis buried his old team with eight 3-pointers — the last one was a 30-foot dagger with 40 seconds left in overtime.
Porzingis, the Knicks’ No. 4 overall pick in 2015, came back to haunt them with 34 points to lead Boston. Jayson Tatum added 32, including the step-back 3 with 2.9 seconds remaining in the regulation that sent the game into overtime.
The Knicks, who lost their first three meetings this season by an average of 17.7 points, came close to finally getting over the hump.
Josh Hart scored on a cutting layup to the basket off Jalen Brunson’s assist in the last 12 seconds in the fourth quarter for a 112-109 Knicks lead. But they did not call a timeout to set up their defense. They also opted not to foul against the most prolific 3-point shooting team in the NBA.
Tatum made them pay.
The Celtics star took a jab step near the top of the key to shake off OG Anunoby and calmly buried the fadeaway 3-pointer.
Coming off a timeout, the Knicks could not come up with a decent shot in the final play of the regulation as Hart’s awkward 3-pointer missed the target.
“It's time and situation,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau of his team failing to foul the Celtics which led to Tatum’s game-tying 3. “They inbound the ball quickly. He's coming at us, and then if he's in the shooting motion, you're giving him the three shots. So, it wasn't off a dead ball situation.”
It was a blown opportunity for the Knicks to take some momentum heading into the playoffs as they could potentially meet again in the second round.
Celtics star Jaylen Brown only played a season-low 22 minutes and finished with six points. He sat out late in the game as he is still recovering from a bone bruise in his knee.
“We just got what we needed to get out of him as he continues to push himself and test himself,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We still got games left so we got what we needed to get, what we needed to see and we’ll just continue to move forward.”
The Celtics almost took a loss. Good thing Porzingis and Tatum picked up the slack.
Earlier in the night, the Cleveland Cavaliers clinched the No. 1 seed with a 104-98 win over the Chicago Bulls, relegating the Celtics to No. 2 seed. But despite not having a homecourt advantage if they reach the conference finals, the Celtics are not worried.
Their fourth win over the Knicks improved their road record to a franchise-best 33-7. They are peaking at the right time with a 20-4 record since the NBA All-Star break.
On the other hand, the Knicks remain winless against the league’s top three teams — Celtics, Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder — with a 0-9 record.
But they closed the gap with the Celtics in the narrow loss.
The Knicks had a complete lineup for the first time in their four matchups with the Celtics.
Karl-Anthony Towns matched Porzingis’ 34 points. The Knicks All-Star big man finished with a double-double by adding 14 rebounds. Brunson had 27 points and 10 assists in his second game back from a significant ankle injury which sidelined him for 15 games.
“They're the defending champion, right? So, until someone proves they can beat them, they're defending their championship,” Thibodeau said of the Celtics. “And so, we know that there's a lot of work for us to do. We're still working through things.
“I thought Jalen gave us really good minutes. So that's a big plus. Each game he will get better and better and the playoffs will be here shortly. So, there's an urgency to this.”
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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for US-based publication Heavy.com.
