Post Game - Celtics vs. Knicks - Friday, December 08 (W)

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401617579

Celtics-Knicks takeaways: White, Porzingis lead the way in C's victory

https://sports.yahoo.com/celtics-knicks-takeaways-white-porzingis-032249250.html

Justin Leger
Fri, Dec 8, 2023, 10:22 PM EST·4 min read

Celtics-Knicks takeaways: White, Porzingis lead the way in C's victory originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston



Three Key Storylines

Kristaps Porzingis stars in return
Big night for "The Stock Exchange"
Jaylen Brown gets ejected

The Boston Celtics' dominance at TD Garden continued Friday night against the New York Knicks.

With a 133-123 victory, the C's improved to 10-0 on their home court this season. The Denver Nuggets (9-0) are the only other NBA team that has yet to lose at home.

Friday's matchup featured plenty of offense as it marked only the fourth Celtics-Knicks game ever in which the two teams combined for more than 200 points through three quarters. Boston is now 3-0 this season against New York.

All five Celtics starters -- and veteran big man Al Horford (14 points) -- scored in double figures. Derrick White (30 points) and Jayson Tatum (25 points) led the way in the scoring column.

The Knicks trio of R.J. Barrett (23 points), Jalen Brunson (23 points), and Julius Randle (20 points) had a strong outing, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the Celtics' offensive onslaught.

The Celtics (16-5) will enjoy three days off before hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers (12-9) on Tuesday night. Here are three quick takeaways from Friday's win.

C's backcourt shines

Derrick White and Jrue Holiday showed Friday night why they're considered one of the best starting backcourt tandems in the league. The duo -- dubbed "The Stock Exchange" by White's father Richard -- combined for 46 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists vs. New York.

White started hot with 10 first-quarter points. He also helped to widen Boston's lead with 11 points (3-3 3-PT) in the third.



He ended up leading his team with a season-high 30 points -- three shy of his career-high -- on an efficient 10-of-16 shooting (6-10 3-PT). In addition, he showed off his All-Defensive talents with two steals and two blocks. The TD Garden crowd showed its appreciation by chanting "MVP" when White stepped to the free-throw line late in the fourth quarter.

Holiday had one of his best offensive performances of the season with 16 points (7-11 FG) and five assists. Eleven of his points came in the first half.



The perennial All-Defensive selection added two steals and a block. When "The Stock Exchange" gets it going on both ends of the court, the C's are next to impossible to stop.

Kristaps Porzingis stars in return

Porzingis returned to the C's starting lineup after missing the last four games with a calf injury and didn't miss a beat.

He immediately made his presence felt by scoring the Celtics' first eight points of the game with a dunk and two 3-pointers in under two minutes. The 7-foot-3 Latvian finished the first quarter with 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting and he was only warming up.

Porzingis' first half was almost perfect. He made his first seven shots to go 7-for-8 (3-4 3-PT) and notch 19 points through the first two frames.



It was a quieter second half for Porzingis, who finished the game with 21 points (7-13 FG), three rebounds, two steals, and an assist in 29 minutes. Head coach Joe Mazzulla took Porzingis out of the game -- presumably to give him a rest in his first game back -- with a few minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Nonetheless, Friday's performance was exactly what C's fans wanted to see from their prized offseason addition. Boston is a different team with Porzingis on the court and it will need "The Unicorn" to stay healthy on the quest for Banner 18.

Jaylen Brown's odd ejection

One week after Jayson Tatum's ejection for arguing with the officials, Jaylen Brown was ejected for the first time in his career.

Brown was whistled for a technical foul after taking exception to a reach-in foul on Immanuel Quickley with 7:19 remaining in the fourth quarter. He was taken out of the game with five fouls, but he continued to argue with the officials while on the bench. That resulted in his second tech and an ejection.

Several C's players and staff members had to hold Brown back as he approached the official after being thrown out of the game. You can watch the entire sequence below:

Fortunately, Brown's absence didn't cost the C's over the final few minutes of the fourth. New York made a late run with Brown sidelined but still fell by double digits.

Brown logged 17 points (7-13 FG), four assists, one steal, and one block before his ejection.

From another perspective:


Celtics 133, Knicks 123: “A tough end to a tough week”

https://www.postingandtoasting.com/2023/12/8/23994342/celtics-133-knicks-123-a-tough-end-to-a-tough-week

Bleak start to the weekend for Knicks fans

By Kento Kato Dec 8, 2023, 10:35pm EST 0 Comments



Much of the buzz heading into the game was around the Knicks starting lineup change. With Quentin Grimes struggling offensively for much of the season, coach Tom Thibodeau made the decision to insert Donte DiVincenzo into the starting lineup. But a lot of the excitement and anticipation went out the window in a hurry as the first few minutes of the game showed a lot of the Knicks’ weaknesses and boy was it ugly.

First, it looked like de ja vu of the season opener as former Knick, Kristaps Porzingis got off to a blazing hot start, scoring eight points in the first two minutes. Then, Julius Randle committed two careless turnovers over the span of a couple of minutes. While that was happening, Derrick White got in on the action and made a pair of threes as well. All of this lead to a an early 21-15 lead for the Celtics. And potentially the scariest part about it, was the fact that the Celtics were doing this with their franchise star, Jayson Tatum, scoring zero points during the span.



But thankfully the Celtics shooting came back to reality after starting the game making their first five three-pointers. This allowed the Knicks to slowly crawl back into the game, to make it 25-21 with about four minutes to go. As New York was making their run, fans saw a very welcome sight as they saw both Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes knock one three-pointer each in the opening quarter. The Knicks had a 32-31 lead with about 15 seconds to go but Quickley took a shot with time still left on the clock, didn’t get back in time, and allowed Payton Pritchard to get off a fastbreak layup as time expired, to give the Celtics a 33-32 lead after the first quarter.



The second quarter started out as a back and forth affair. The Celtics were lead by Jrue Holiday who scored five points in the first three minutes of the quarter while Tatum finally got on the board and scored five points in the first four and a half minutes of the period. The Knicks got some nice minutes from RJ Barrett, and Isaiah Hartenstein, and Quickley, but the most encouraging part of it all, was the play of Grimes. He was very aggressive in looking for his shot, getting a couple of threes to go, and even got a tough transition layup to go as well, which gave the Knicks a 48-47 lead and forced the Celtics to call a timeout.

Just minutes later, Brunson drew a shooting foul on a three-point attempt, got all of the free throws go and gave the Knicks a 51-47 lead. But as the Celtics have done so often this season, they stayed resilient and answered. White quickly answered with a three-pointer on the other end to put the Celtics back within one. That was quickly answered with a layup from Mitchell Robinson, who had quietly racked up eight points and five rebounds in nine minutes. But Jaylen Brown came back on the other end and instantly got a basket to go.

At this point, the Knicks were up 53-52, but there was still some worry in the air for Knicks fans for multiple reasons. Boston was finding a way to stick with the Knicks despite a very quiet game from Tatum and Brown and Porzingis, who had a monster first quarter, hadn’t really gotten back into the groove of things. Unfortunately for the Knicks, both of those things changed not too long after that. Starting at the 4:46 mark of the second quarter, Porzingis scored seven more points within a two minute span and Tatum got another three-pointer to go as well. With Boston going ahead 62-58 with 2:55 left int he half, Thibodeau was forced to call a time out.

Things started to look like it was getting out of control soon after though. Tatum hit two of three free throws and then moments later, Randle threw a pass that bounced off Mitchell, landed in Tatum’s hands, and lead to a loud and emphatic breakaway dunk. Thankfully Barrett was able to get a three-pointer to go to stop the Celtics’ momentum, but Boston continued their offensive onslaught as Porzingis continued to haunt the Knicks’ smaller defenders from midrange. Veteran Celtic Al Horford then got in on the action as he converted a three-point play and followed that up with a wide open three from the right elbow just a few seconds later. Just when it felt like it couldn’t get worse, Randle capped off a semi-fastbreak opportunity at the end of the quarter with his fifth turnover of the half.

Headed in to half time, things looked rather bleak as the Knicks trailed the Celtics 74-65 despite a slow first quarter from Tatum, a very quiet Brown, and a good shooting half from Randle, Barrett, Quickley and Grimes.



Unfortunately, the beginning of the second half didn’t start much better than the first half did. Randle committed his sixth turnover just minutes in to the quarter, White continued to find openings in the Knicks’ defense, and Boston won the first four minutes 9-7 to extend their lead to 11. After an early timeout by Thibodeau and the Knicks, Brunson was able to get his offense going a bit after a slow first half but a lot of it was overshadowed by White, who continued to impose his will on the game and was just downright dominant. In the first six minutes of the quarter alone, White racked up 14 points, and by the six minute mark of the third quarter, the veteran guard, who is averaging just 14.5PPG this season, was already up to 24 points on an incredibly efficient 9-13 from the field.

By this point, the game started to feel like it was slipping out of the Knicks’ grip. New York’s offense was sputtering and coughing up the ball, while Boston not only capitalized on those turnovers, but also continued to get very good looks. With five minutes left in the third, Brown scored his fifth point of the quarter to extend Boston’s lead to 20. Thibodeau looked annoyed as always, while a lot of the players looked like they were dealing with a mixture of frustration, defeat, and even a little hopelessness and desperation.



After a bit of a lull in the action, New York was able to put a bit of a dent into the deficit by hitting on three of four shots from downtown and succeeded in cutting the lead down to just 11 with 11 seconds left in the third quarter. But right when the Knicks and their fans started to regain some hope, Horford hit a devastating three from the right corner to push the lead back up to 14 heading in to the fourth quarter.

The backup backcourt unit of Quickley and Grimes, along with Barrett, gave Knicks fans a little bit to cheer for as they combined for 11 points in the first four minutes of the final quarter but it seemed like every time they scored, the Celtics would just march down and answer right back, and do so effortlessly. That being said, the Knicks, as they so often did last season, continued to battle and fight. A pair of technical foul free throws from Quickley and a big three from Josh Hart cut the lead to just seven with six minutes left and you could start to feel the Boston crowd starting to get a little bit antsy and nervous. But almost as quickly as the nervousness and panic increased, they were put out. White came through with a big layup to bring the crowd to it’s feet, and then made two straight free throws a few possessions later to stretch the lead back out to 11.

Over the next few minutes, both teams struggled to find the basket. Boston missed some good looks, while New York spent much of it’s offense dribbling around into multiple defenders and ultimately having very little spacing to work with. You could tell that both teams were starting to get a little fatigued as we saw some air balls and a lot of shots fall short. It would ultimately remain an eleven point game until Hartenstein grabbed his 15th rebound and got an easy layup to go, but at that point, it was a little too late for a real comeback effort and Boston took home the win 123- 133.



The Knicks’ shooting actually ended up in a solid place overall but their turnovers and defense were both troublesome and ultimately not where it needed to be to beat an elite team like the Celtics. And quite frankly, that’s been the case with the Knicks for most of the season. As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, the Knicks are a very good team that can beat lesser teams consistently, but they just lack the top-end talent, and roster construction to beat the best of the best, teams like the Bucks and the Celtics.

Now, the game did have a few bright spots. Barrett had arguably his best offensive game since missing some time earlier in the season, Grimes looked as aggressive as he has all season, and Quickley looked more like himself than he had as of late. That being said, it was overall a very ugly and frustrating game to watch as a Knicks fan. Despite Tatum shooting just 8-18 from the field, and Brown scoring just 17 points, the Knicks were defeated handedly because of their constant inability to defend bigs who can shoot and their lack of point of attack defense when Grimes is not on the court. And to top it all off, Brunson, who for some reason was in the game late, was seen limping into the locker room after stepping on Pritchard’s foot. Overall, as Fred Katz of The Athletic put it, it was a very “tough end to a tough week.”



The Knicks will get a couple of days off before hosting the Raptors on Monday. In the meantime, prepare for some more frustration and hot takes as the Knicks, who just look a bit off right now, continue to struggle against elite teams.

JUST got off the ship coming back from Antarctica, made my way to an Irish pub in Ushuaia, the first time off ship in a week and a half (couldn't make it to the peninsula because of a double-whammy Atlantic-to-Pacific and Pacific-to-Atlantic storms. Headed out of the Beagle Channel to take on the Drake Passage on 12/3 but we turned away early the next morning with 4 meter swells with projections of up to 7 meters and our ship not having the speed to outrun the storms).

Only Boston and Denver are undefeated at home still.


Bob


.

Quite a good almost play-by-play from the other side. Very good.

Here is something the other 29 teams cannot say. Our 4th and 5th scoring options had overall spectacular nights. And this isn't the first time, second time or ninth time. That's dangerous. Pretty much wraps up any opposing teams game plan that includes the double teaming scheme. You're forced to play us straight up or simply FAFO. Everything seems to click better with KP on the floor. Everything.

Can we play the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs?!

Up next, a little stiffer competition with the next two games at home against the Cavs. Definitely will put the home streak at risk. Then ORL. If we win those three games, we can start talking about breaking the 1986 home record!

db

This is the first game I've seen kive all season.Living in Mexico. VPNs were not working for me.Finally found an IT guy. He got me set up with Season Ticket. Cable company here is useless. Anyway, here I am , like it or not, happy as a pig in slop.We have the best top 7 or 8 in the league.Is the deep bench useless, or is ittoo early to tell. What abiut the 15th roster spot?

This is the first game I've seen live all season.Living in Mexico. VPNs were not working for me.Finally found an IT guy. He got me set up with Season Ticket. Cable company here is useless. Anyway, here I am , like it or not, happy as a pig in slop.We have the best top 7 or 8 in the league.Is the deep bench useless, or is ittoo early to tell. What abiut the 15th roster  spot?

Another solid home win for the Celtics (10-0)

Bob, ship to ship.  Denver is 10-1 at home.

Getting KP back just shows how valuable he is to this team.  There is no substitute for talent.  His availability seems tied to the team's long term goal of winning the banner. We just do not have enough depth to play at an elite level when one of our top 6 guys are missing.

If this is really the 'all in' year, Brad needs to add another quality player to this team.  I am not talking about some over the hill, washed up veteran.  

Last night Al Horford played excellent basketball at both ends.  4 days off can do wonders for his 37 year old NBA body.    What that means to me is that a fragile KP and AL may not be enough to win this season.  Kornet as our 3rd string center is ok I guess but he no backup center.  He is no #2 on the center depth chart.  

Once again our NOT 100 best player in the NBA smoked the opposition.  

The NYK are a sad bunch.  They are stuck in traffic on the George Washington Bridge.  They shot 40% from deep and still lose by double digits.  That is because we also shot 40% from deep but took 10 more 3PA (47-37)  It's a numbers game.  It's arithmetic.

Their fans are eating oatmeal, cornmeal and sometimes no meal as coach Thibs continues his penchant for grinding down his team.  It is not all on Thibs.  The roster construction of the Knicks is ill suited to compete against the iron.  Their backcourt is too small and they do not have a big who can stretch the floor.  Most of all, they do not have the guy.  

Last night's win put the Celtics up 3-0 for the season against the knicks.

Coming up, 4 games at home before heading out West for 4 games including the Xmas game vs the Lakers.  We will see the Cavs twice 12/12/ and 12/14 followed by the Magic 12/15 and 12/17.

jrleftfoot wrote:This is the first game I've seen live all season.Living in Mexico. VPNs were not working for me.Finally found an IT guy. He got me set up with Season Ticket. Cable company here is useless. Anyway, here I am , like it or not, happy as a pig in slop.We have the best top 7 or 8 in the league.Is the deep bench useless, or is ittoo early to tell. What abiut the 15th roster  spot?

Foot

Glad you were able to get things set up to watch the games.

I actually do not think we have the top 7 or 8 in the league. I am not even certain that we have the top 6 because you would have to include AH in that group.

Top starting unit? No question. The talent level of our starting 5 looks like the best in the league.

Before the season began, I mentioned that the Celtics would probably keep a roster spot open. I think that they will fill that spot for a couple of reasons. First they would get hit with an incomplete roster penalty if that spot is not filled. Secondly this team is still missing something. I think it is a big. The deep bench is not useless. They are used less.

dboss wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:This is the first game I've seen live all season.Living in Mexico. VPNs were not working for me.Finally found an IT guy. He got me set up with Season Ticket. Cable company here is useless. Anyway, here I am , like it or not, happy as a pig in slop.We have the best top 7 or 8 in the league.Is the deep bench useless, or is ittoo early to tell. What abiut the 15th roster  spot?

Foot

Glad you were able to get things set up to watch the games.

I actually do not think we have the top 7 or 8 in the league.   I am not even certain that we have the top 6 because you would have to include AH in that group.  

Top starting unit?  No question.  The talent level of our starting 5 looks like the best in the league.

Before the season began, I mentioned that the Celtics would probably keep a roster spot open.  I think that they will fill that spot for a couple of reasons.  First they would get hit with an incomplete roster penalty if that spot is not filled.  Secondly this team is still missing something.  I think it is a big.    The deep bench is not useless.  They are used less.

I actually like Hauser and Pritch as the 7th and 8th man. Hauser was off last night, but he’s been lighting it up. I don’t like Kornet as a back up, he is just too slow and easy to score on. Queta seems to have a nose for the ball, maybe he can earn some minutes. We have a physical Marcus Smart type, Joe just refuses to play him and I don’t know why as I think he, Stevens can help us…???

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:This is the first game I've seen live all season.Living in Mexico. VPNs were not working for me.Finally found an IT guy. He got me set up with Season Ticket. Cable company here is useless. Anyway, here I am , like it or not, happy as a pig in slop.We have the best top 7 or 8 in the league.Is the deep bench useless, or is ittoo early to tell. What abiut the 15th roster  spot?

Foot

Glad you were able to get things set up to watch the games.

I actually do not think we have the top 7 or 8 in the league.   I am not even certain that we have the top 6 because you would have to include AH in that group.  

Top starting unit?  No question.  The talent level of our starting 5 looks like the best in the league.

Before the season began, I mentioned that the Celtics would probably keep a roster spot open.  I think that they will fill that spot for a couple of reasons.  First they would get hit with an incomplete roster penalty if that spot is not filled.  Secondly this team is still missing something.  I think it is a big.    The deep bench is not useless.  They are used less.

I actually like Hauser and Pritch as the 7th and 8th man. Hauser was off last night, but he’s been lighting it up. I don’t like Kornet as a back up, he is just too slow and easy to score on. Queta seems to have a nose for the ball, maybe he can earn some minutes. We have a physical Marcus Smart type, Joe just refuses to play him and I don’t know why as I think he, Stevens can help us…???

Cow

I also like Hauser and PP as top 8 rotation guys.  Kornet can buy the team a few minutes but he is no #2 center.  The complete lack of playing time for Stevens is perplexing.    CJ is going to run the starters into the gound and keep your fingers crossed that injuries do not bite this team.  Hauser is our most consistent rotation guy but I do not see him as a fulltime starter over an extended period of time.  Same concern applies to PP.  A QTR of the season is gone and we do not know who could emerge.

At times CJ seems afraid to take off the training wheels and just give it a go.

dboss wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:This is the first game I've seen live all season.Living in Mexico. VPNs were not working for me.Finally found an IT guy. He got me set up with Season Ticket. Cable company here is useless. Anyway, here I am , like it or not, happy as a pig in slop.We have the best top 7 or 8 in the league.Is the deep bench useless, or is ittoo early to tell. What abiut the 15th roster  spot?

Foot

Glad you were able to get things set up to watch the games.

I actually do not think we have the top 7 or 8 in the league.   I am not even certain that we have the top 6 because you would have to include AH in that group.  

Top starting unit?  No question.  The talent level of our starting 5 looks like the best in the league.

Before the season began, I mentioned that the Celtics would probably keep a roster spot open.  I think that they will fill that spot for a couple of reasons.  First they would get hit with an incomplete roster penalty if that spot is not filled.  Secondly this team is still missing something.  I think it is a big.    The deep bench is not useless.  They are used less.

I actually like Hauser and Pritch as the 7th and 8th man. Hauser was off last night, but he’s been lighting it up. I don’t like Kornet as a back up, he is just too slow and easy to score on. Queta seems to have a nose for the ball, maybe he can earn some minutes. We have a physical Marcus Smart type, Joe just refuses to play him and I don’t know why as I think he, Stevens can help us…???

Cow

I also like Hauser and PP as top 8 rotation guys.  Kornet can buy the team a few minutes but he is no #2 center.  The complete lack of playing time for Stevens is perplexing.    CJ is going to run the starters into the gound and keep your fingers crossed that injuries do not bite this team.  Hauser is our most consistent rotation guy but I do not see him as a fulltime starter over an extended period of time.  Same concern applies to PP.  A QTR of the season is gone and we do not know who could emerge.

At times CJ seems afraid to take off the training wheels and just give it a go.

Agreed the starters have to stay healthy, plus Big Al and as much as I like Hauser and Pritch for bursts; neither should play near starters minutes, or we will be in trouble. Stevens can add defense and toughness, would compliment Hauser’s game; using Stevens to defend the more physical wing, don’t know why Joe wouldn’t want to try that….

League needs to figure out how not to close down the season like they have for the IST. Haven't looked yet, but this must be adding on a month to the end of the season and we'll finish everything up in July.

I know, inaugural year for this. It was great. Very creative. Congratulations, Lakers. It's the only title you will have this year or anytime soon.

db