Celtics knock off Knicks in overtime thriller to sweep season series

Zack Cox, Boston Herald on Apr 8, 2025

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NEW YORK – It wasn’t the rollicking beatdown that the first three installments were, but the Boston Celtics completed a season sweep of the rival New York Knicks on Tuesday.

After trailing for the entire first half, Boston rallied to win 119-117 in overtime at Madison Square Garden.

Kristaps Porzingis’ 3-pointer over Jalen Brunson with 40.1 seconds to play in the extra session proved to be the difference. It was the eighth made 3 of the game for Porzingis, who played with four stitches on his nose after taking an elbow to the face last Friday.

Mikal Bridges fumbled the ball out of bounds on the ensuing Knicks possession, and Jrue Holiday iced the game with two foul shots.

With the win, the Celtics improved to 59-20 and 33-7 away from TD Garden. They can tie the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors for the best road record in NBA history with a win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.

Jayson Tatum, who played the entire second half and overtime for Boston, was fouled by Karl-Anthony Towns on a 3 with 35.1 seconds remaining in regulation and the Celtics down three. He made the first two free throws but missed the third, and Josh Hart scored on the ensuing possession to make it 107-104.

Tatum then redeemed himself, drilling a game-tying step-back 3 with 2.9 seconds remaining. Hart’s would-be game-winner rang iron, sending the game to overtime.

Tatum played 48 minutes and finished with 32 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Porzingis played 39 and scored 34, going 11 for 19 from the field and 8 for 13 from 3-point range.

Jaylen Brown, who’s been managing a highly publicized right knee injury, did not play in the fourth quarter or OT. He sat for the final 22 minutes and finished with one of his leanest stat lines of the season: six points on 2-of-8 shooting, five rebounds, one assist, three turnovers.

The Knicks’ largest lead in the teams’ first three meetings was one point, but they built an early nine-point advantage in this one. Towns was a handful for multiple Boston defenders, scoring 12 of New York’s first 20 points amid a 4 for 5 start.

Eleven first-quarter points from Tatum and a timely 3-pointer from Sam Hauser helped the Celtics cut the deficit to three at the end of one, only for the Knicks to open the second quarter with a quick 6-0 run. Brown struggled during that New York flurry, missing badly on a pair of 3-point attempts and committing his second and third fouls of the game.

Brown logged just 12 minutes before halftime, totaling as many turnovers (two) as points, rebounds and assists combined.

The Celtics also had issues on the defensive glass, leading to two putbacks by Mitchell Robinson – who missed the first three matchups with an injury – and another by Miles McBride. The Knicks piled up 22 first-half rebounds to Boston’s 11, though they held only a slim 12-10 edge in second-chance points.

Erratic shooting was another problem for the Celtics. During a seven-plus-minute stretch that spanned most of the second quarter, Porzingis was the only Boston player to make a field goal, going 4 for 5 with three triples – including just his sixth corner 3-pointer of the season – while his teammates went 0 for 7. Six of those misses were from White or Tatum.

A successful challenge on a White shooting foul then swung momentum back toward Boston. Porzingis, Tatum and White scored on three straight Celtics possessions, with White’s 3 from the right corner – off a pinpoint cross-court pass from Holiday – cutting New York’s lead to 54-52.

After Holiday opened the second half with a layup and a second-chance 3 off a White rebound, Porzingis kept firing. The big man’s fourth 3-pointer of the game gave Boston its first lead, 60-58. His seventh, four minutes later, was a 39-foot moonshot from the capital “K” in the midcourt logo that made it 73-66 Celtics.

The Knicks proceeded to score seven straight points once Porzingis checked out. But Holiday blunted that rally with back-to-back buckets, and Tatum closed out the third quarter with a tough baseline buzzer-beater. The Celtics took an 83-78 lead into the fourth.

Up 91-85 with eight minutes remaining, the Celtics won their second challenge, successfully overturning a foul on Porzingis that would have given New York foul shots. Boston turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, leading to a Bridges 3-pointer, but Tatum immediately responded with a 3 of his own. Shortly thereafter, Tatum converted a pair of tough, contested midrange jumpers over Bridges.

Porzingis sat in favor of Luke Kornet to start overtime but entered with 2:20 remaining and provided the death blow with his 3 over Brunson, who finished with 27 points and nine assists for New York. Towns had 34 points and 14 rebounds in the loss.

If the Celtics and Knicks both win their first-round playoff series, they’d meet again in the Eastern Conference semifinals. That would be the first Celtics-Knicks playoff matchup since 2013 and the first between any teams from Boston and New York since the Red Sox and Yankees squared off in the 2021 wild-card game.

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