Knicks beat Celtics in Tatum’s return to Madison Square Garden

NEW YORK (AP) — Josh Hart scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, Jalen Brunson had 25 points and 10 assists, and the New York Knicks stayed alive in the race for the second seed in the Eastern Conference with a 112-106 win over Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.

Tatum finished his career scoring 24 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, and providing eight assists in his first game at Madison Square Garden, where he tore his Achilles tendon in the playoffs last season.

The Knicks (52-28) fell in two games to the Celtics (54-26) to occupy second place with two games remaining for both teams. New York holds the tiebreaker after winning the season series 3-1 and will take the second seed with two wins and two losses in Boston.

Hart hit two 3-pointers in the final 42 seconds to give New York more wins this season under Mike Brown than last year’s 51-31 finish in Tom Thibodeau’s final season.

The Knicks then knocked off the Celtics in the second round of those playoffs, aided by Tatum’s season-ending injury in Game 4 of the series. He admitted to some nerves and anxiety on Thursday before taking another action in the arena before finishing just short of his second hat-trick since returning to action last month.

The Celtics had their four-game winning streak snapped while playing without leading scorer Jaylen Brown, averaging 28.8 points, due to left Achilles tendonitis.

Payton Pritchard added 23 points and Baylor Sherman added 20 points, going 6-for-7 from 3-point range.

The Knicks host Toronto on Friday in a potential playoff game and close out Charlotte on Sunday. Boston hosts New Orleans on Friday and Orlando on Sunday.

the next

Celtics: Host New Orleans on Friday.

Knicks: Hosts Toronto on Friday.