The Boston Celtics took advantage of a porous New York Knicks defense en route to 21 point victory at TD Garden.
- New York Knicks 89 (0-3)
- Boston Celtics 110 (2-2)
- NBA, Final, Box Score
- TD Garden, Boston
The Knicks lost their third straight game to start the season as the defense was exploited by a balanced Celtics offense. Offensively, the Knicks didn’t do nearly enough to keep things close.
The Celtics had five different double-digit scorers tonight, three of which scored 20 or more points. Jaylen Brown led the way with 23 points, followed by Jayson Tatum with 22 and Kyrie Irving with 20.
Al Horford‘s double-double (13 points, 13 rebounds) was the cherry on top to a very good offensive performance by the Celtics. The Knicks defense was non-existent at times and Boston took advantage of the Knicks turning their backs to the ball. Both Kristaps Porzingis and Enes Kanter got beat on backdoor cuts a few too many times.
The offense didn’t look much better. The Knicks manged to score a paltry 33 first-half points. Porzingis had a rough night, scoring just 12 points on 3-for-14 shooting. The Celtics focused heavily on stopping the big man and it showed.
Tim Hardaway Jr. was a complete non-factor in this game, going 2-for-11 from the field and 0-for-5 from downtown. Hardaway Jr. should be able to stretch the floor and create space inside for the big guys to operate, but he has yet to find his stroke.
The entire Knicks team was anemic from behind the three-point line. As a team, they finished the night 1-for-12, with Courtney Lee draining the only three. You can’t win in the NBA when you are shooting that poorly from behind the arc.
Kanter was the lone bright spot, recording a double-double of his own with 16 points and 19 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive glass. Kanter still looks a bit lost at times on defense, but his effort is there. Hopefully, he can figure out a way to get his defense together and become a complete player.
Willy Hernangomez only played limited minutes, but the 11 minutes he saw were his most in a game this season. He was 5-for-6 from the floor for 12 points. Granted, most of these points came in garbage time, but hopefully this is a sign that he may see an increase in minutes.
The Knicks first-round pick Frank Ntilikina did not suit up for the game due to an ankle injury suffered in practice last week.
This team is very young and will be going through some growing pains this year. The Celtics are a very good team and it showed tonight.