Julius Randle #30 of the New York Knicks drives to the basket as Al Horford #42 and Malcolm Brogdon #13 of the Boston Celtics defend during the first half at Madison Square Garden on February 27, 2023 in New York City. The Knicks won 109-94. Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFP
Julius Randle and Immanuel Quickley scored 23 points apiece Monday night for the host New York Knicks, who led almost wire-to-wire in a 109-94 win over the NBA-leading Boston Celtics.
Mitchell Robinson (10 points, 13 rebounds) had a double-double for the Knicks, who have won six straight and eight of nine to move into fifth place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game ahead of the idle Brooklyn Nets.
New York’s Jalen Brunson finished with 17 points while reserve Josh Hart added 12 points and RJ Barrett had 10 points.
Squad comes to WORK 💼
JR 23 PTS | 7 REB | 4 AST
IQ 23 PTS | 3 REB | 1 STL
JB 17 PTS | 4 REB | 3 AST pic.twitter.com/ONhVoPRyBB— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 28, 2023
Malcolm Brogdon scored a team-high 22 points for the Celtics, who lost for the third time in 12 games and fell into a virtual tie for first in the East with the idle Milwaukee Bucks.
Marcus Smart had 19 points while Jayson Tatum, who entered Monday averaging 30.4 points per game, was limited to 14 points before he was ejected late in the fourth quarter. Tatum shot 6-for-18, including 1-for-9 from 3-point range, and added nine assists for the Celtics, who shot a season-low 21.4 percent (9-for-42) from beyond the arc.
Boston’s Al Horford and Derrick White added 13 points apiece.
Horford opened the game with a 3-pointer to give the Celtics their only lead. Boston was within one point three times before Randle and Brunson scored five points apiece in a quarter-ending, 12-2 run that extended the Knicks’ lead to 27-15.
New York scored eight straight points to take the first of its two 20-point leads at 47-27 with 6:35 left in the half.
The Celtics scored 12 unanswered points to get within 49-41 with 3:05 remaining in the second quarter, but New York answered with eight straight points before carrying a 60-46 edge into halftime.
The Knicks led by at least nine throughout the second half and iced the win when Hart hit a 3-pointer with 3:52 left in the fourth and Quickley converted the free throw following Tatum’s second technical foul six seconds later to extend their lead to 106-91.