332 days after rupturing his Achilles, Jayson Tatum made his return to the place where he suffered that devastating injury… Madison Square Garden, as he led the Boston Celtics on their road matchup against the New York Knicks without Jaylen Brown.
Tatum received cheers from Knicks fans in a classy act. It didn’t look like someone easing back in either—he played a team-high 40 minutes and led Boston in scoring with 24 points, along with 13 rebounds and 6 assists, in the Celtics’ 112-106 loss to New York.
The Celtics had five players in double figures, including three off the bench, led by Payton Pritchard with 23 points. Baylor Scheierman, Neemias Queta, and Nikola Vucevic combined for 40 points, but it still wasn’t enough to pull off the upset on the road.
The Knicks were led by Josh Hart, who took over in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 26 points and five threes—including back-to-back dagger threes with 14 seconds left to seal the game at home.
Everyone contributed for New York, with nine different scorers on the night, including 25 points and 10 assists from Jalen Brunson, and 16 points with 12 rebounds from Karl-Anthony Towns.
OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges combined for 23 points to round out the starting lineup, while Jordan Clarkson led the bench with eight points.
Coach Mike Brown Postgame
“We’re heading in the direction of where we need to be,” said Knicks head coach Mike Brown following the team’s thrilling win at home. “We’ll take it one game at a time, and we need to get the last two of the regular season. We’re ready to win.”
He also spoke on the Celtics, a team they could potentially face again in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs:
“They’re a good team… they’ve been in a lot of big moments. We knew they weren’t going to go away. We tried different things to keep them out of the paint.”
