– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — Just before halftime, and with the game almost already in hand by then, Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla wasn’t letting the foot off the gas as he admonished his star player, Jayson Tatum, for not hustling down the floor on defense after not getting a call on the other end. His star answered soon after, knocking down a three-pointer — then letting off some steam in a vociferous, chest-pounding celebration — right before the buzzer.
The higher the stakes of a regular-season game, the more the Celtics have brought the fire, and that bore itself out once again on Sunday as the defending champions appear to be rounding into form at the right time of the season. In turn, the New York Knicks cast designed to compete with the best of the conference continue to come up short in an alarming fashion against their fellow beats of the East.
Tatum scored 25 points and was one assist shy of recording a triple-double for a second consecutive game as the Celtics had their way during most of the contest with their closest division rival, the New York Knicks, in a 118-105 victory inside TD Garden. Jaylen Brown had 24 points and eight rebounds while Derrick White had 19 as Boston has won five straight games, with each win coming by at least 13 points.
In the two previous matchups this season, Boston defeated the Knicks by 23 points on opening night and by 27 points inside Madison Square Garden in a primetime matchup on the eve of the Super Bowl.
The Knicks’ big run at the Celtics came when they shaved a 77-50 third-quarter deficit down to 95-89 on Mikal Bridges’ driving basket early in final quarter. From there, Boston went on a 10-0 run to take control, with Brown scoring the last six points on that stretch.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 points and Jalen Brunson scored 22 to lead New York, and they combined to score 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting in the third quarter to lift the Knicks back into contention. Josh Hart came back after missing the past two games with a sore right knee and, like Tatum, was one assist away from a triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
New York was coming off a 37-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night, and it now falls to 0-5 combined in games against the Cavaliers and Celtics this season.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 14 pictures in total.
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