Identical win percentages made this Eastern matchup all the intriguing. New York and Boston are 18-20 in 10th and 11th respectively, one might expect a close encounter and we got it. Big Frenchman Evan Fournier had a career high 41 points whilst Jay Tatum had 36 points contribution. From watching the Celtics, they are a first half team , they like to set the pace in games. They overwhelmed the Knicks in the first Q . To get a feel of Fournier’s field goal shooting get a load of 19-8 Celtics. Even off balance he nails the three. Evan is always hungry for the ball, it also helps that the Celtics defense wasn’t getting tight on him too, 19-11 Celtics. Celtics put in a small masterclass in field goal shooting in the second Q, Tatum running riot from down town. He wasn’t alone. Watch 54-32 Celtics as Boston constructed a 20 point plus lead. The steals stat had to be in favor of New York in the second half if they had to mount a come back.

They were off to a good start. Watch 63-50 Celtics. Randle telegraphing the pass to Celtics Williams setting up Fournier. One of 8 steals for the match for the Knicks. For a while it seemed things well looking up at Madison Square Garden for New York, but Tatum and Co had other ideas. The lead went from 10 points to 19 points in no time. One of the beautiful plays was this pass from Tatum to Brown at 73-56 Celtics. One of a game high 9 for the JT. A series of missed buckets by the Celtics late in Q3 coupled with some down town shooting saw the lead cut to just 7. It wasn’t just Evan, it was Randle(He got comedian Tracy Morgan all fired about in the chairs),it was Barrett on the 3-tip. Evan got cocky at 82-73 Celtics, just one blemish in an otherwise memorable night for him. The confidence was on for the Knicks, the shooting percentage from the field was 39%. It was all systems go for Q4. Lead whittled down to 2 points by guess who at 87-82 Boston. They couldn’t handle jay though (93-90), they almost lost the game because of that. How to defend against Jay? Get the biggest guy in your team on him, close, that is Randle. They didn’t do that often. With the game at 103-101 Knicks(at last) it became an attritional game of fouling and who gets the most free throws. At 105-105 with a second to go to overtime, Barrett came up trumps on the clutch with a huge three at the buzzer. A great win from the Knicks in what is one of the games of the season so far to keep their play off hopes alive and well.