Hart (L) Was Big On “O” and “D”
Photo: Michael Henriquez – NY Beacon
Madison Square Garden
By Andrew Rosario
Tatum Returned To MSG
Photo: Michael Henriquez – NY Beacon
Madison Square Garden
When the New York Knicks hosted the Boston Celtics last Thursday night, it was the first time they faced the team with Jayson Tatum in the Line-up. Tatum blew out his Achilles tendon last May as the Knicks eliminated the defending champions in 6 games. With Tatum back in the line-up, the Celtics had won 12 of 14 games and were looking to extend their winning streak to 8 games. Meanwhile, the Knicks had won their previous 3 games and were looking to hold on to the #3 playoff seed with the Cleveland Cavaliers right behind them. Boston would be without forward Jaylen Brown who was out with a strained ankle.
The Celtics didn’t seem to skip a beat without Brown as they jumped out to a 29-26 first quarter lead as Boston’s Payton Prichard came off the bench to score 11 points. The Knicks were led by captain Jalen Brunson who paced the Knicks with 10. The teams would go back and forth in the second quarter with New York outscoring Boston 28-24 to take a slim 54-53 halftime lead. Boston struggled from the 3-point line missing 16 of 21 attempts. New York wasn’t much better as they took 21 3’s making only 7. Things would change for the Celtics in the third quarter as they would find their range from downtown.
Behind the Celtics Baylor Scheierman and Pritchard nailing 6 3-pointers (3 each) they outscored New York taking a slim 83-81 lead going into the final quarter. That’s when the Knicks Josh Hart put his stamp on the game.
Hart began the 4th quarter with 11 points. By games end, Hart led all scorers with 26 points connecting on 5 of 7 3’s in the 112-106 victory. Said first year head coach Mike Brown said afterwards, “their game plan was to let him shoot and he stepped up and he knocked down big shots.”
The win kept the Knicks ahead of Cleveland as they hosted the Toronto Raptors the following night (see Shara Talia Taylor’s article) before closing out the regular season as they hosted the Charlotte Hornets Sunday night.
The Detroit Pistons locked up the #1 seed and the Boston Celtics locked up the #2 seed as both teams will wait for the outcome of the play-in playoff games which began this past Tuesday night to see who they will face in the first round.
Recent Comments