New York-Los Knicks, who opened their season with a defeat in Boston, entered on Saturday night when they saw their revenge with the Celtics of defenders such as a measurement stick when they approach the All-Star Break.
They left Madison Square Garden with a clear answer about where they are: far behind the Celtics, who defeated the Knicks 131-104 as they did in October.
The reverse of 27 points, the largest of the New York season, was revealing. The Knicks had won seven out of eight before Saturday’s game and were 1½ games behind the Celtics second at the Eastern Conference.
“Unacceptable,” said the Knicks captain, Jalen Brunson, who scored a maximum of 36 points in just 18 shots. “We are not where we want to be.”
A day before, he said he hoped to see how his team measured with Boston after showing improvements, and cohesion with the newly arrived Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, from the beginning of the campaign.
But many of the same problems of the Knicks of the Opening Night appeared again on Saturday. Specifically, they had no response to Jayson Tatum, who threw a huge dump in the second play of the contest on the way to score 40 points. The All-Star seemed to obtain what he wanted in individual clashes with the wings of New York, and fired 13 by 26 in general and 7 for 14 of the ARC.
The Knicks (34-18) were without perimeter plug Og Anunoby, which is dealing with a feet sprain. But the Celtics were going down two headlines: Guard Jrue Holiday and former Knick Kristaps Porzingis, who was a late scratch due to a noóbic disease. Luke Kornet was told at the end of the process prior to the game that would be replacing Porzingis. Kornet triggered 7 by 14 points and added 12 boards and three blocked shots.
“Big Luke touched his butt today,” Tatum said about Kornet.
However, Tatum was the best player on the floor, and said he enjoyed organizing a show with the famous actor Denzel Washington sitting on the court with the director of film winner of the Friend and Academy Spike Lee award.
Boston (37-16) dominated most of the game, but the Knicks, driven by Brunson’s trips to the free throw line, reduced their deficit to three in the middle of the third.
It was then that Tatum and Derrick White provided the entire score of the Celtics during a 19-3 outbreak that essentially sealed the victory. Tatum sat down the last six minutes of the game, and the mass pockets of the crowd, including Lee and Washington, began to go to the exits several minutes before.
The Knicks, 23-6 against Sub -.500 clubs, but only 11-12 against teams with .500 or better records are trying to prove that they belong to the league elite. They are 0-3 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Celtics, who feel first and second, respectively, in the east. And the Knicks launched their two contests against the Oklahoma City Thunder, owner of the best brand of the League.
“We have had a goal on our back all year, and we understood that entering the season. I think every game [against us] It’s probably a measurement stick, “White said.” It is found in us to have the right mentality. “
In the other costumes, the Knicks said that, no matter how much they could have improved during the season, they are not yet close to the level of the Celtics.
“We have a lot of work to do. Simple as that. There is no sugar that covers it. There are no moral victories,” said Towns, who ended with a quiet exit of nine points and nine rebounds. “If we have aspirations, which I know we do, then we have to find ways to win games like tonight. That is a team that is in the race. Great teams, championship teams, try their discipline. And we ” have to Work to maintain our discipline for 48 [minutes]”
