jQuery(document).ready(function() { addByline("Taylor Snow", "Celtics.com", "taylorcsnow"); keysToTheGame(); });
Key Moment
Jaylen Brown is typically on the receiving end of alley-oops, but on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, he tossed a couple of lobs to Grant Williams that helped kick-start a huge second-half run for the Boston Celtics.
Boston was hanging onto a 79-76 lead over the Knicks with a little more than a minute remaining in the third quarter when the pair had their first alley-oop connection. Williams set a screen for Brown at the top of the arc before rolling toward the rim. Brown fed Williams with a soft toss, which the rookie lept for, caught and laid in for the final basket of the frame.
The duo started off the next quarter in almost the exact same fashion. On Boston’s first possession of the frame, Brown drove along the baseline, while Williams streaked from the top of the arc to the basket. New York opted to double-team Brown and left Williams wide-open, which Brown took advantage of by lobbing the rock to Williams for another easy alley-oop lay-up.
Those two selfless plays helped to jump-start an 11-0 run for the Celtics, which had them ahead 90-76 by the 10:21 mark of the fourth quarter. That turned into a lopsided fourth quarter for the Celtics, as they cruised to 118-95 victory.
Key Player
We all saw Kemba Walker catch fire Friday night against the Toronto Raptors, as he scored 11 of his 22 points during the fourth quarter of Boston’s 112-106 home-opening win. Well, he carried that flame straight to New York for part two of Boston’s back-to-back, as he dropped a game-high 32 points to help the Celtics blow out the Knicks at MSG.
Walker, who had a couple of rough shooting stretches during his first two games as a Celtic, had no such trouble Saturday night. He canned 11-of-17 shots from the field, including 7-of-12 from long distance. New York, meanwhile, shot 7-of-27 from deep as a team.
He also contributed five rebounds, four assists and two steals, all while not turning the ball over a single time during his 30-plus minutes of action.
Box Score Nuggets
- Kemba Walker scored a game-high 32 points, including 21 from beyond the 3-point arc.
- Walker canned as many 3-pointers (seven) as New York made as a team.
- Knicks rookie R.J. Barrett was the only other player who topped 20 points. He scored 26.
- The Knicks committed more than twice as many turnovers (25) as Boston (12).
- Jayson Tatum snagged four of Boston's 16 steals.
- The Celtics outscored New York 50-40 in the paint.
- Boston also had a large fast-break scoring advantage of 16-2.
- Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum both logged a plus-20 to lead the plus-minus category.
- The Celtics led by as many as 29 points.
- Knicks forward Marcus Morris tallied 12 points and seven rebounds in his first game against his former team.
- In his NBA debut, Tacko Fall tallied four points and three rebounds during four minutes of action.
Quote of the Night
Brad Stevens on rookie Grant Williams.