Knicks show late fight, but can’t overcome disastrous middle quarters in 123-117 loss to Celtics

Knicks show late fight, but can’t overcome disastrous middle quarters in 123-117 loss to Celtics

Knicks show late fight, but can’t overcome disastrous middle quarters in 123-117 loss to Celtics

Knicks show late fight, but can’t overcome disastrous middle quarters in 123-117 loss to Celtics

The Knicks were defeated by the Boston Celtics 123-117 on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Here are some takeaways...

- The Knicks have been up-and-down on the road this season, but they got off to about as good a start as you could ask for in this one. Josh Hart continued his strong play, dropping 11 points in the first seven minutes, and New York knocked down four of their first seven attempts from downtown to quickly open a double-digit advantage.

- The Celtics' offense finally found their footing after an early timeout, but New York's hot shooting continued. Boston turned to the 'Hack-A-Mitch' strategy on Mitchell Robinson in an effort to slow down the momentum in down the stretch in the first, but they still found themselves trailing by 11 after 12 minutes.

- The second quarter was a much different story. The Knicks put together one of their worst quarters of the season, losing their composure after some foul calls didn't go their way, and Boston was able to take advantage. The Celtics used a long run to cut into the deficit, and eventually open an advantage of their own, which they carried into the break (58-52).

- Boston outscored the Knicks 37-20 in the middle frame; their leading scorer, Jaylen Brown, was responsible for 18 of those points, as he finally found his touch after going just 2-for-5 from the field in the opening quarter.

- The Celtics were able to keep the momentum going coming out of the break. New York eventually found their groove and was able to get the deficit down to six points, but Brown led Boston on another scoring barrage and they carried their largest lead of the game into the final frame (18).

- The Knicks' second unit helped them regain some momentum in the opening minutes of the fourth. The starters then returned to the court, and behind Mikal Bridges' hot shooting and Karl-Anthony Towns' three-point play, they were able to cut the deficit all the way back down to three points.

- Clutch buckets from Towns, Hart, and Bridges helped New York hang around down the stretch. The Celtics received big plays of their own from Jordan Walsh and Brown in the closing minutes, though, and they were able to just barely hang on for the victory. Brown finished with a game-high 42 points on 16-of-24 from the field.

- Derrick White knocked down four threes, Walsh had eight points on a perfect night from the field and six rebounds.

- Jalen Brunson tied his season-high with 11 assists, but shot an inefficient 6-of-21 from the field (15 points). With the captain struggling it was Bridges who led the way for the Knicks' offense, finishing with 35 points on 12-of-17 from the field and 8-of-12 from three-point land.

- Towns had 29 points and brought in seven boards, Hart ended with 19 and seven boards of his own.

Game MVP: Jaylen Brown

Brown took things over after a quiet first quarter, finishing with a game-high 42 points.

Highlights

What's next

The Knicks return to MSG to host the Hornets on the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.