The Knicks escaped opening night with a win, beating the Boston Celtics 138-134 in double overtime on Wednesday night.
Here are some key takeaways…
– Julius Randle got the Garden rocking early, making his first shot of the game on step-back three. Kemba Walker missed a layup on the next possession, but Mitchell Robinson was there to clean it up with a putback dunk. Randle then made another three to put the Knicks up 8-0. Jaylen Brown began to settle into the game, scoring 14-straight points for the Celtics to make it a 17-13 game. Derrick Rose entered the game with about four minutes left in the quarter, and rookie Jericho Sims checked in soon after as Tom Thibodeau’s first subs.
Despite Randle’s 11 points, Boston led 35-29 after the first quarter. The Knicks shot 10-of-24 from the field (43.5 percent) including 5-of-12 from three-point range ( 41.7 percent). Brown scored 20 points for the Celtics, shooting 7-of-9 from the field including a perfect 3-of-3 from deep.
– Randle and the Knicks went on a 14-0 run in the second quarter to bring them within two points, trailing 50-48. He then found Robinson on the pick and roll to tie the game up with 2:57 left in the half. Dennis Schroder tried to save the ball from going out of bounds, but Evan Fournier picked it off for the easy fast break dunk to put New York up.
Boston held on to lead 58-54 at the half, led by Brown’s 25 points. The Knicks outscored the Celtics 25-23 in the second, but went just 1-for-4 from three in the quarter.
– The Knicks opened the second half with a Robinson block on Jayson Tatum leading to a fast break layup by Fournier. RJ Barrett scored his first points of the night on a left-handed jam with 6:03 left in the third quarter, as the Knicks trailed 71-67. He was just 0-of-3 from the field prior to the dunk, with all of his shots being three-pointers.
– Randle blocked Tatum at the rim and Walker found Obi Toppin running the floor for the and-one layup. Barrett finally hit from deep, making a wide open spot up three to cut the Celtics’ lead to one. Rose assisted to Toppin for another fast break dunk as the Knicks regained the lead, 79-78, with 1:59 left in the third. Barrett got the Garden on their feet with another three and then a dunk to go up 84-80.
Quentin Grimes entered for the first time in his career with 6.8 second left in the third. The Knicks outscored the Celtics 32-24 in the quarter, leading 86-82 heading into the fourth.
– Rose connected with Toppin on the pick-and-roll alley-oop jam over Payton Pritchard to put the Knicks up 100-92 and forcing Boston to call timeout. Walker drilled a step-back three, and Toppin once again got a fast break bucket to put the Knicks up 105-95. Randle got Grant Williams to bite on the pump fake and blew by him for the easy two-hand dunk, giving him 30 points for the game.
Fournier buried a clutch three-pointer on a dribble handoff play with Randle, to put the Knicks up 112-106. After some sloppy play that let the Celtics to cut into the lead, Alec Burks inbounded it to Fournier for the layup to go up 114-110. A ridiculous Brown three cut the lead to one, and then Randle made two foul shots to go back up three. A defensive breakdown allowed Marcus Smart to make a wide open game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer, sending the game to OT tied 116-116.
– The Knicks and Celtics traded threes on four straight possessions to open the overtime period, and then both teams went cold as Boston called timeout with a minute remaining. Tatum missed a baseline jumper at the buzzer, as they headed to double-OT tied at 128-128.
Randle gave the Knicks the lead with an and-one layup, making the foul shot to go up 133-131. Tatum put the Celtics back up, but Fournier nailed another three and Rose hit a floater to take a 138-134 lead. The Celtics missed a handful of threes in the final 20 seconds as the Knicks escaped with the win.
– Randle scored 35 points with nine assists and eight rebounds in 46 minutes of action. In his Knicks debut, Fournier had 32 points on 12-of-22 shooting, including 6-of-13 from three. Barrett finished the game with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting, four rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. Toppin’s strong second half gave him 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 27 minutes off the bench. Walker had 10 points, eight rebounds, three assists and four turnovers, and Robinson had 11 points, 17 rebounds, and two blocks in 34 minutes.
Brown had a career-high 46 points for Boston, while Tatum scored just 20 points.
Highlights
What’s next
The Knicks will hit the road and take on the Orlando Magic on Friday, Oct. 22 at 7:00 p.m.