Home NBA New York Annihilates The Celtics At The TD Garden

New York Annihilates The Celtics At The TD Garden

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Photo Credit:Michael Dwyer

Boston, MA—After losing four games in a row, the Knicks must of drank water directly from the Wachusett Reservoirs.

The New York Knicks annihilated the Boston Celtics on Sunday, 105-75. The game wasn’t even close, as the Knickerbockers jumped out front from the beginning of the match-up.

As a team, Boston shot a dismal 29.8 percent from the field (25/84) and 15.2 percent from deep (7/46). They are only the fourth team in NBA history to shoot 40 or more threes and shoot less than 16 percent from downtown.

The Knicks (6-8) never trailed, leading by as many as 37 points to snap out of their funk, and handed their coach Tom Thibodeau a nice gift on his 63rd birthday. The defense led the way, holding the Celtics (8-4) to a season-low in points.

“As long as we’re doing the right things, I know we’ll improve and we’ll keep getting better,” Thibodeau said. “I love the attitude and I love the approach of the guys that we have. We had a number of guys step up and play really well today. We’re starting to find a rhythm. I thought the defense was terrific. We defend and we rebound and we share the ball, good things will happen for us.”

Knicks Julius Randle had 20 points, 12 rebounds, RJ Barrett 19 points, 11 rebounds, and Immanuel Quickley chipped in 17 points, eight assists sparking the Knicks while Obi Toppin contributed a career-high 12 points in the winning effort.

Randle and Barrett got the Knicks going early combining for 19 points and 10 rebounds in the first quarter as NY raced out to a 28-17 lead.

Boston got within six points, 35-29, midway through the second quarter, but Quickley gave a huge spark off the bench to fuel a Knicks surge. The rookie point guard set up an alley-oop for Toppin, then crush the Celtics with three floaters on the next five possessions to take a 44-29 lead as Quickley racked up 11 points in the second quarter alone.

Photo Credit: Michael Dwyer/AP

“It’s just his craftiness,” Thibodeau said. “For a rookie to come in and play the way he plays, he’s got every shot you can imagine.

NY pushed the tempo in the second half, going on a 10-0 spurt to begin the third quarter to open a 58-35 lead. The Celtics never got closer than 18 points after that, shutting down any chance of a Boston comeback.

Jaylen Brown was the only Boston player to get anything going offensively, finishing the contest with 25 points on 9/20 from the hardwood.

With the return of Kemba Walker, the offense mainly revolved around him trying to get him back into game shape, throwing Brown some touches in the opening minutes of the game.

Walker scored nine points on 3-of-13 shooting, grabbing three boards, four assists, and three steals but committing five turnovers. He was 1 for 8 from 3-point range.

“I think it’s very important,” Barrett said. “We really do work hard. We work hard every day. We’re really buying into coach’s system and playing hard and trying to play together as much as we can. It’s great. It’s great to get the win.”

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