Celtics Cruise in New York, Secure Their 8th Straight Victory 116-102
The Boston Celtics cruised to an easy win inside Madison Square Garden Saturday night, defeating the Knicks 116-102. After taking a 62-58 lead into halftime, the C's jumped all over New York in the 3rd quarter, outscoring the Knicks 35-26 in the period.
Boston's offense looked effortless for most of the night, as they were shooting the ball at a 70% clip from the field through 3 quarters.
This win served as the Celts 8th straight overall and 8th consecutive road dub to move to 19-9 away from home this season. Jaylen Brown set the tone and never took his foot off the gas, as he recorded a team-high 30 points and 8 rebounds. JB is going to feast whenever Divincenzo, Brunson, or Alec Burks try to match up with him 1-on-1; it's a matchup nightmare for the Knicks that Boston exploited all night.
The Celtics got double-figure scoring from 6 guys, including Kristaps Porzingis (22 points, 7-11 FG) and Jayson Tatum (19 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists), who both had very solid performances.
Jalen Brunson (34 points, 9 assists) had a really nice game for New York, but it wasn't nearly enough, as the Knicks dropped to 0-4 on the season against the Celtics with one matchup left to play.
Jaylen Brown tonight:
— CelticsMuse (@CelticsMuse) February 25, 2024
30 Points
8 Rebounds
3 Assists
13-24 FG
4-0 vs the Knicks this season. pic.twitter.com/R37WGZD2zB
Obviously, the Knicks are down a couple of key guys with OG Anunoby and Julius Randle currently sidelined, but in a potential playoff matchup with New York, I'm not really sure what they have to offer defensively against this Boston squad.
45-12 is the current mark for your 2023-24 Boston Celtics, as they now sit 8 games ahead of the Cavs for the top spot in the East with 25 games left.“Let’s go Celtics” chants here in Madison Square Garden pic.twitter.com/6sDoQNOJXS
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) February 25, 2024
This is Boston's biggest lead in the conference this year, as the magic number is currently 18 for them to clinch the top seed in the East.
No matter what happens the rest of the way, as long as this team stays healthy, I don't believe there's any other team in the league with the firepower to push this team in a 7 game series.
Let's keep up the momentum and pile on the wins down the stretch.