NEW YORK (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 30 factors, Kristaps Porzingis had 22 and the NBA-leading Boston Celtics simply dealt with the New York Knicks 116-102 on Saturday evening for his or her eighth consecutive victory.
Brown shot 13-for-24 from the sector and had eight rebounds for the Celtics, who improved to 45-12 and sit atop the Jap Convention with an eight-game lead over Cleveland.
The All-Star ahead downplayed the massive benefit within the standings with lower than two months left earlier than the beginning of the postseason.
“When it comes right down to the playoffs, none of that stuff actually issues,” Brown mentioned. “I really feel prefer it’s going to be about matchups, it’s going to be about taking part in arduous. Clearly, dwelling court docket (benefit) issues. So, that’s key. You get into the thick of it, you have to win basketball video games.”
Jayson Tatum had 19 factors with six assists and 6 rebounds and Derrick White added 13 for Boston, who’ve received 10 of their final 11.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzula gushed over the efficiency of Tatum, who has not less than 5 assists in seven of his final 9 video games and 6 rebounds in 16 of 17 video games.
“I believed at this time was an exquisite show of basketball from Jayson,” Mazzula mentioned. “It received’t go into essentially the most invaluable class, however his skill to manage the sport together with his pick-and-roll tempo, his pick-and-roll passing, his protection. He put himself on (Jalen) Brunson, welcoming 2-on-1s and creating for others was nice. My hats off to him for understanding that is a approach for us to win.”
Brunson had 34 factors on 12-for-25 taking pictures from the sector and 4-for-9 from 3-point vary and Josh Hart had 16 for the Knicks, who had been swept by Boston of their four-game season collection.
Boston opened the second half with a 4-point lead earlier than the All-Star tandem of Brown and Tatum together with Porzingis, a 2015 first-round draft decide of the Knicks, sparked a 30-11 spurt to place the sport out of attain.
After Isaiah Hartenstein hit a pair of free throws to chop the deficit for New York to 67-61, Porzingis and Tatum hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 73-66. That compelled the Knicks to name timeout with 8:21 left within the third quarter.
New York then turned the ball over on the next possession and Brown answered with a 3 earlier than Brunson was fouled on a 3-point try and hit all three free throws that made it 76-69.
The Knicks and Celtics traded baskets earlier than Porzingis began a 10-0 run with a 3 from the highest of the important thing and Brown closed it with a layup to increase the lead 88-71 with 3:53 remaining within the quarter.
Hart and Brunson adopted with consecutive baskets, however Boston responded with a 9-0 run capped by Tatum’s 3 that made it 97-77 with 1:30 left within the quarter and drew loud “Let’s Go Celtics!” chants from the visiting followers earlier than boos rained down from the Knicks trustworthy.
“I favor any form of emotion over no emotion,” mentioned Porzingis, who was booed by Knicks followers the evening he was chosen within the NBA Draft and was jeered when his identify was referred to as in the course of the lineup introduction.
“If it’s cheers or boos, I need them,” he mentioned. “Tonight was no completely different. Massive sport, (nationwide) TV sport, followers had been into it and we simply took care of enterprise.”
The Knicks charged again with a 13-2 run bridging the top of the third quarter and the beginning of fourth quarter, reducing the deficit 99-90 on Bojan Bogdanovic’s jumper with 9:17 to play within the interval.
However the Celtics took benefit of three Knicks turnovers and 6 missed pictures to go on a 10-0 run to increase the lead 109-90 with 4:43 left in regulation.
Brown had 10 factors within the first quarter to assist the Celtics to a 30-36 lead on the finish of the opening interval. He added 10 extra within the second interval to tempo Boston to a 62-58 benefit at halftime. The Celtics shot 66.7% from the sector and 42.9 % past the 3-point line within the first half.
