Tatum fourth quarter heroics leads Celtics to 114-98 victory over Knicks
The Boston Celtics beat the New York Knicks 114-98 on Monday night after breaking out of a shooting slump. They were struggling to hit 3-pointers. They also missed a lot of layups.
Coach Joe Mazzulla would have been happy to make changes, but his options were limited. Then, Jason Taytum took over.
Tatum scored 17 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, as the Celtics turned a 91-88 lead into a comfortable win. After missing seven of his first eight 3-point attempts, he hit four straight down the stretch, including a contested one that led to a four-point play after the Knicks cut the deficit to three points.
“I’ve played enough games, had enough tough shooting nights,” said Tatum, who finished the game 13 for 23 after going 6 for 8 in the fourth quarter. ”All really, really good scorers know it just takes one to change your momentum, change how you feel about yourself shooting the ball. And once you see one go in, you just feel a lot better about yourself."
Jaylen Brown had 22 points and Kristaps Porzingis had 21 against the team that drafted him.
Jalen Brunson had 26 points and Julius Randle had 25 points and nine rebounds for New York, which was missing RJ Barrett, who missed the second night of a back-to-back due to a migraine headache. The Knicks had won three straight games after starting the season 2-4, including a loss to Boston.
The Knicks led by eight points with 75 seconds left in the second quarter before Boston made three straight baskets, scoring nine of the final 11 points of the half and cutting it to 53-52 on Brown's 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Boston led by as many as ten points late in the third quarter, but the Knicks cut the deficit to 91-88 with eight minutes remaining when Brunson hit a long three-pointer. Tatum responded with a step-back three-pointer and drew the foul, giving Boston a 95-88 lead.
“I missed so many wide-open 3s. I made the toughest one of the night, and I missed all the easy ones," Tatum said. “That kind of got me going. I’ll take it.”
SportsLigue