With Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, and Shane Larkin all out with injuries, Terry Rozier got his first career start and triple double tonight as the Boston Celtics defeated the New York Knicks 103-73. Rozier impressed from the jump, scoring 11 1st quarter points and finishing with a tremendous stat line of 17 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists. After a relatively close first half, Boston stretched its 5 point halftime advantage into a massive second half lead thanks in large part to six double digit scorers and a putrid Knicks offense. An 18-0 4th quarter run put the nail in the coffin, as the Celtics outscored the Knicks 53-28 overall in the second half.
Boston Celtics
- Jaylen Brown, along with Rozier, paced the Celtics offensively for most of the first half in this one. Brown and Rozier combined for 18 of Boston’s 27 1st quarter points. Brown finished with 14 points on 14 shots including this massive dunk on Kristaps Porzingis:
Jaylen Brown throws it down on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/udg1rAa2RW
— NBA (@NBA) February 1, 2018
- Marcus Morris left the game late in the 3rd quarter with a leg injury following a hard fall on a dunk attempt. With the injuries Boston had tonight, Morris was required to step up with a little bit of offense and he did so in a big way, putting up a game-high 20 points on just 9 shots in the 19 minutes he played.
- Al Horford quietly put together a fantastic stat line as well tonight with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Boston pulled away in the 3rd quarter and Horford’s aggressiveness on offense helped the C’s push the lead.
- Semi Ojeleye and Abdel Nader played 26 and 28 minutes off the bench respectively tonight, highlighting how bad the injuries were for Boston. Ojeleye wasn’t asked to do much on offense, taking only 2 shots, but Nader put up a season high 10 points on 3 of 4 from the field overall and 2 of 2 on 3pt shots.
- Jayson Tatum finished the game with 15 points in 30 minutes. Most of the 15 points were highlight-worthy.
Starting off the second half like….
WATCH: ESPN pic.twitter.com/ESDsP0gUtk
— NBA (@NBA) February 1, 2018
New York Knicks
- All-Star Kristaps Porzingis has struggled this season against Boston, averaging a lowly 6.5 points over the first two matchups. Porzingis’ impact was limited again by the Celtics defense, finishing with 16 points on 18 shots. After being dunked through the basket by Jaylen Brown, Porzingis got a little revenge with this block on Brown in the second half:
Kristaps protects the paint on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/T5r1jZJsn7
— NBA (@NBA) February 1, 2018
- Enes Kanter continues to put up gaudy stats against the Celtics this season. He finished with 17 points and 17 rebounds, looking very aggressive offensively when playing against a Horford-Morris front court, but provided no assistance for the Knicks’ defense whatsoever.
- The Knicks got absolutely no help on offense outside of Porzingis and Kanter. Tim Hardaway Jr., who has been one of their better scorers most of the year, was a complete no-show tonight. Hardaway Jr. ended the game with 4 points, Courtney Lee added only 7 points, and Jarret Jack provided 2. After scoring 32 points in a matchup earlier this season against Boston, Micheal Beasley scored 12 points in this one on 11 shots from the field.
- Rookie Frank Ntilikina played only 22 minutes but showed flashes of impressive play in that limited time on the court. His lightning quick speed makes him better than most his age on defense and he has moments of great vision and basketball IQ. I hope we see his minutes continue to rise.
Boston is now 37-15 on the season and will play the middle game of this home stand against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday. The Celtics are 2-0 against the Hawks this season already, winning the first two matchups in November.
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