The five Knicks defeats are over. All it took was a showdown with the top Eastern Conference team.
The Celtics missed Jayson Tatum and didn’t look good, and the Knicks took advantage and brought the energy to go with a dominant 105-75- Victory on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden to run away.
The Knicks (6-8) stayed straight and led out of their funk with up to 37 points to give coach Tom Thibodeau a present on his 63rd birthday. The defense went ahead and kept the Celtics (8-4) at a season low in points.
Despite their recent fights, the Knicks are now winning against Celtics and Bucks, two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
Julius Randle (20 points, 12 rebounds), RJ Barrett (19 points, 11 rebounds) and Immanuel Quickley (17 points, eight assists) fueled the Knicks, while Obi Toppin scored 12 career-high points in wins.
If you have any questions to shake up the line-up, Thibodeau stuck to the same starting five and they came out strong to build an early lead. Randle and Barrett hit a combined 19 points and 10 rebounds in the first quarter as the Knicks took a 28-17 lead after the first 12 minutes.
Jaylen Brown kept the Celtics early in the game, scoring 11 points in the first quarter, but otherwise they looked sloppy early on after just one game last week due to COVID-19 issues.
Mitchell Robinson stayed on the Knicks’ starting line-up after a cramped right heel against the Cavaliers on Friday, but quickly recovered posted. In the middle of the first quarter, Robinson blocked a 3-pointer from Jeff Teague but landed hard without preventing his fall. He returned in the second quarter but still seemed to be moving cautiously.
The Celtics hit six points (35:29) in the middle of the second quarter, but Quickley gave another jolt off the bench to make a Knicks rise to create. The rookie point guard cleared a lane for Toppin and injured the Celtics with three floaters on the next five possessions to take a 44-29 lead as Quickley scored 11 points in the second quarter alone.
The Knicks went in at half time with a 48:35 lead, with the 35 points signifying a season low in half of the allowed points.
Thibodeau’s crew did not offer any disappointment to start the second half. It started 10-0 at the beginning of the third quarter and ruled out any chance of a Celtics comeback.
Kemba Walker, the Bronx-born who the Knicks missed in summer 2019, made his season debut after a knee injury. However, it looked pretty rusty and contributed to the rough afternoon of the Celtics.
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