Kristian Winfield: Knicks outlast Celtics, 112-106, after Jaylen Brown demands revenge
NEW YORK — Jaylen Brown wants all the smoke. The Knicks have it, and more, for the Boston Celtics. It’s been roughly 11 months since the Knicks and Celtics met in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, a series ending in disaster for the Celtics, who were favored to beat the Knicks before blowing consecutive 20-point leads to open the semifinals.
That series ended ...
NEW YORK — Jaylen Brown wants all the smoke. The Knicks have it, and more, for the Boston Celtics. It’s been roughly 11 months since the Knicks and Celtics met in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, a series ending in disaster for the Celtics, who were favored to beat the Knicks before blowing consecutive 20-point leads to open the semifinals.
That series ended with a ruptured Achilles for superstar forward Jayson Tatum, and a battering ram taken to the extremities of a Celtics core that had claimed an NBA title just a season prior. The Celtics traded Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, integral pieces of their championship run, then traded Anfernee Simons (the haul in the Holiday deal) to the Chicago Bulls for Nikola Vucevic, ushering in what many believed would be a gap year in championship contention as Boston patiently awaited Tatum’s return from Achilles surgery. Gap year where?
Tatum is back — far sooner than anyone envisioned — and no game cemented his healthy return more than his first game back at the scene of the crime: his first game back at Madison Square Garden since the injury that jeopardized his All-NBA, likely first-ballot Hall of Fame career. And the Knicks better be ready, ready for the Celtics to attempt to exact some revenge for the way things ended a season ago. New York survived Boston’s attempt at vengeance on Thursday in a 112-106 victory, marking 52 on the year, one more than the mark Tom Thibodeau set last season.
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