New York Knicks No Fight for Boston Celtics again

New York-New York Knicks, who opened their season with a blow-up loss in Boston, went in Saturday night and saw their rematch with defending champion Celtics as a measuring stick of kind as they approach the All-Star break.

They left Madison Square Garden after getting a clear answer about where they stand: Far behind Celtics, who directed Knicks, 131-104, just as they did back in October.

The 27-point setback-New York’s biggest of the season-was an eye-opening, considering that Knicks had won seven of their last eight and went in after being just 1.5 games left in second place Celtics.

“Unacceptable,” said Knicks captain Jalen Brunson, who scored a team high 36 points in only 18 shots. “We are not where we will be.”

A day earlier, he had said he was looking forward to seeing how his team measured with Boston after showing improvements and cohesion with the newcomers Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges-page campaign’s start.

But many of the same problems that existed on the opening night of Knicks reappeared on Saturday. Specifically, they had no answer to Jayson Tatum, who threw a huge slack at the second game of the competition on the way to 40 points for the evening. All-Star seemed to get what he wanted in one-to-one matchups with New York’s wings, shooting 13-for-26 overall and 7-for-14 from the arch.

Knicks (34-18) were without stops and Anunoby, which repairs after a recent foot stew. But Celtics were down two starters: Guard Jue Holiday and former Knick Kristaps Porzingis, who was a late scratch with a non-kovid disease. Luke Kornet was told late in the pregame process that he would fill for Porzingis, and he did this by shooting 7-for-7 for 14 points, 12 boards and three blocks.

“Big Luke played his ass today,” Tatum said of the grain show.

However, Tatum was the best player on the floor, saying he enjoyed putting a show with the famous actor Denzel Washington sitting court with friend and Academy Award-winning filming spike Lee.

Boston (37-16) dominated most of the game, but Knicks-driven by Brunson’s trips to the line-made things that were interesting cards and cut their deficits to three midway through the third.

It was at that time that Tatum and Brown delivered all Celtics’ scores during a 19-3 spurt that essentially removed the competition; Enough where Tatum was able to sit for the last six minutes of the game, and massive pockets in the crowd – including Lee and Washington – started to go towards exits several minutes early.

Knicks-23-6 against Under-500 clubs, but only 11-12 against teams with items .500 or better-supplies still prove to prove that they belong in the same sentence with the league’s elite. They are 0-3 against Cleveland and Boston, which sit in first and second place respectively in the east. And they both dropped their competitions against Oklahoma City Thunder, who currently owns the league’s best brand.

“We’ve had a goal on our backs all year and we understood that going into the season. I think every game (against us) is probably a yardstick,” White said. “It’s just on us to have the right mindset.”

In the second dressing room, Knicks pointed out the obvious: that as much as they may have improved during the season, they are still not close to Celtics’ level yet.

“We have a lot of work to do. Simple like that. There’s no sugar coating it. There are no moral winnings,” said Towns, who ended with a quiet nine-point, nine-bread excursion on Saturday. “If we have ambitions that I know we do, we need to find ways to win games like tonight. It’s a team that is in the race. Fantastic team, championship team, they test your discipline. And we ‘ VE has to work on keeping our discipline in all 48 (minutes).