In “back-to-back” after victories away against the 76ers and at home against the Bulls, respectively, the Knicks and the Celtics found themselves in Madison Square Garden on this Saturday evening. A 100% Atlantic coast poster, which in the past has always delivered exciting moments, between these two teams which at the start of the season are only separated in the standings by one victory (Celtics at 5-3, Knicks at 4-4) .
And on the floor, in fact, the meeting was well disputed throughout. With the exception of a “run” by the Celtics in the third quarter, which pointed to +14 at this time before being caught by the Knicks who showed some response, the gap did not in fact never exceeded 7 points for most of the game.
It was only in the second half of the fourth quarter that the Celtics managed to finally break away, stepping on the accelerator at the right time to finally win by 15 points (133-118), against the Knicks. dramatically bad in wide defense.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– Evan Fournier, the beginning of the end? The French full-back, who lost his starting spot to the 76ers, spent just 11 minutes on the court in that match. As against Philly, when Quentin Grimes started the game, Tom Thibodeau preferred a better defender, in this case Cam Reddish, who did a very good job against the outsides of the Celtics. After not even 10 matches in this new season, “Vavane” is already losing ground in the Knicks rotation…
– 27 winning shots: the new Celtics record! Exceptional evening of skill for the Celtics, who signed a huge 27/51 behind the arc, setting a new franchise record in this exercise. Joe Mazzulla’s men took advantage of the very wide spaces left by the Knicks off to offer themselves many open positions. They torpedoed Madison Square Garden.
TOPS & FLOPS
✅ Knicks starters. The Knicks lost, but their starters did well. The trio Jalen Brunson (22 points, 3 rebounds, 10 assists) – RJ Barrett (27 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, but 6 loss of ball) – Julius Randle (29 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists) fueled the attack, when Isaiah Hartenstein, tenured in place of Mitchell Robinson, absent for ten days because of right knee pain, did a good job in the paint (10 points and 14 rebounds). Finally, Cam Reddish, and he was the only one, was amazing in defense, even if the box score does not show it (4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, one block and one interception).
✅ The “Jay’s”. A day of work like any other for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who compiled 56 points with 12 of their team’s 27 award-winning shots to lead the charge on offense (30 for the first, 26 for the second, 6 outside shots each). Jayson Tatum was particularly prominent in the last quarter, during which he notably scored two big 3-point shots to help create a definitive gap, when Jaylen Brown worked especially well during the first three acts.
✅ Celtics replacements. The effort was collective for the visitors, like their bench which scored 50 points: 17 points with 5 3-point shots for Sam Hauser, 14 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals for Malcolm Brogdon, 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals for Grant Williams, and finally 7 points and 7 rebounds for Noah Vonleh. The four substitutes all finish with a positive +/-. The squad depth of the C’s is impressive.
⛔️ The Knicks must learn to defend at 3-pts… Terrible face displayed by the Knicks, unable to properly defend their 3-pt line. The Celtics were certainly particularly insolent with success, but Tom Thibodeau’s men nevertheless appeared lost, totally confused as to the strategy to use on certain possessions. Their biggest concern in this match, and this is not the first time this season, was their tendency to rely too much on assists on the ball carrier, which logically triggered shifts and many open positions. . Worrying, after more than two weeks in this new season…
THE FOLLOWING
– Knicks (4-5) : trip to Minneapolis, overnight from Sunday to Monday (03:15)
– Celtics (6-3) : trip to Memphis, the same night (03:00)
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