NEW YORK — After ruling Kristaps Porziņģis a late scratch Saturday night due to an illness, the Celtics named Luke Kornet a starter so shortly before the game that Joe Mazzulla couldn’t deliver the word himself.
When Mazzulla walked into the Boston locker room to let Kornet know he would start in Porziņģis’ normal spot, Kornet had already left for the Madison Square Garden court. Mazzulla asked Payton Pritchard to alert Kornet of the news.
“Right before the game,” Pritchard said. “Joe came in and Luke wasn’t in here. So Joe told me to tell Luke to get ready to be in the starting lineup.”
Kornet said he was already in layup lines when he heard of the starting lineup shift. He had hardly time to prepare himself for his seventh start of the season, but still racked up the fourth double-double of his career while helping the Celtics roll the Knicks 131-104.
Jayson Tatum led Boston with 40 points. Payton Pritchard added 25 points off the bench. Derrick White combined with Tatum to score 19 straight Boston points during a decisive run late in the third quarter. The Celtics had plenty of offensive production around Kornet, but controlled the first quarter and much of the game largely because of the rim protection he and the other centers provided in double-big lineups.
“Big Luke played his ass off today,” said Tatum. “He kind of really set the tone to start.”
The Celtics, also without Jrue Holiday (shoulder), started Kornet next to Al Horford for the second time this season. That duo has produced some of the team’s best defensive stretches of the season. Boston entered Saturday night allowing just 100.2 points per 100 possessions with Kornet and Horford sharing the court.
Saturday didn’t hurt the numbers. The Celtics blocked four shots before the Knicks finally made their first field goal attempt more than five minutes into the game. Kornet had two of those early blocks; Horford had another. The Boston starters led 19-9 when Neemias Queta entered the game as the first sub with 5:31 left in the first quarter.
The Celtics delivered plenty of quality shot-making, but defense granted them an early lead. They held the Knicks to 8-for-27 shooting inside the paint during the first half, with five blocks helping to deter New York at the rim.
Despite the absence of Porziņģis, Mazzulla committed to double-big lineups for the vast majority of the game. He even used Queta and Xavier Tillman together while going four centers deep in the first period alone. The Celtics couldn’t keep Jalen Brunson off the free-throw line late in the first half but otherwise used tenacious, smart defense to hold the Knicks to 48 points on 33.3 percent field goal shooting before halftime.
“You tally up all the ways that they’re able to score and you take a few of those away,” said Mazzulla, who believed the Celtics played one of their most complete games all season. “We didn’t do a great job at the free-throw line. We got to do a better job defending without fouling, but we were able to just take away a lot of the stuff that they get through some of the details and the positioning and the details were on point and it took some of that stuff away.”
It would have been easy for Mazzulla to downsize once he learned Porziņģis would miss the game, but the coach trusted his bigger frontcourts instead.
“It’s more about just having different ways that you could play and so the season presents opportunities for that and we need to be able to be flexible to win the matchup at that particular time,” Mazzulla said. “And I thought tonight that just won the matchup for us.
“New York’s one of the most physical teams in the league and they do a great job on both ends of the glass and so we were able to counteract that a little bit with our physicality. So credit to the guys though for playing as hard as they did, especially defensively, they were really well-connected. … I thought Al, I don’t know if he took two, three shots, but his defensive positioning and physicality was tremendous.”
Jayson Tatum SHOWED OUT for the Celtics at MSG!
🍀 40 PTS
🍀 6 REB
🍀 4 AST
🍀 7 3PMBoston moves to 5-1 in their last 6. pic.twitter.com/W3FBwrL4iv
— NBA (@NBA) February 9, 2025
Tatum shines in MSG
The Celtics didn’t just rely on their defense. After Brunson (36 points) helped the Knicks cut a 12-point halftime lead to 3 midway through the third quarter, Boston hit back with a 19-3 run engineered by Tatum and White.
“I think from the start to the finish, even when they went on a run, we did a really good job of responding,” Tatum said. “We weren’t flustered or anything like that. And on both ends of the floor, when we needed a stop, we did (it), when we (needed) a rebound, when we needed to hit some shots, when we needed to make the right reads, we did all those things.”
Tatum and White combined to score 33 of the Celtics’ 35 points during the third quarter, including all 19 of their team’s points after the Knicks pulled within a single possession.
Tatum started the run by driving for a dunk. White drew three free throws at the end of the shot clock in a big momentum shifter. He then finished a layup from Tatum and drained a pair of 3-pointers.
After White stole the spotlight for a quick stretch, Tatum dribbled to his right, squared his body in mid-air and drilled a long 3-pointer over Mikal Bridges to give Boston an 89-70 lead.
“He was special,” White said of Tatum. “From the first play on. Just making all the right reads. And (I was) just playing off of him being aggressive when I can. But yeah, he was big-time all game.”
As White suggested, Tatum started the game aggressively. He dunked on Precious Achiuwa during the opening minute en route to a 10-point first quarter. Outside of Boston, Tatum said Madison Square Garden is “probably the best place to play.”
After a loss to Dallas in the previous game, he wanted to put his team back in the win column. Plus, he didn’t want to play poorly in front of one of his favorite actors. “I saw Denzel Washington sitting courtside,” Tatum said, “so I was excited about that.”
Tatum put on a show for Washington, reaching the 40-point mark for the second time this season on a 28-foot 3-pointer two minutes into the fourth quarter. For the game, Tatum made 13-of-26 field goal attempts, including 7-of-14 3-point attempts.
“He was ready to play,” Mazzulla said, “and that was special. So I just thought he did a great job just kind of taking what the defense gave him, whether it was for him, whether it was for his teammates. But his ability to just play versus different coverages throughout the game, get the shot that he wanted and play with his sense of poise … that was a special performance.”
(Photo of Luke Kornet driving to the basket against the Knicks: Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images)
