RJ Barrett banked in a three-pointer as time expired, and the New York Knicks earned a dramatic, come-from-behind 108-105 victory over the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden Thursday evening.
Evan Fournier tallied a career-high 41 points, and the Knicks erased a 24-point deficit. The teams will close out the home-and-home set Saturday night in Beantown.
Jayson Tatum poured in 36 points for Boston and tied the game up on a step-back jumper with just over a second to play. However, after a timeout the Knicks inbounded before Barrett banked it in for the victory.
“It was a tough shot, but every time I shoot I think it’s going in,” Barrett said. “Honestly, I didn’t even see it because I fell. I didn’t see it go in, but just by everyone else’s reaction I could tell. So that was cool.”
Julius Randleadded 22 for New York, Immanuel Quickley 16, and Barrett 13 for the Knicks, who didn’t hold a lead until the final minutes.
Dennis Schroder had 20 points for Boston.
“It wasn’t about the last play again. It was everything leading up to it,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “We need some leadership. Somebody that can calm us down and not get rattled when everything starts to go a little south. I think it snowballs between our guys.”
A Robert Williams tip-in with 1:16 left in the first half gave the Celtics a final 24-point lead, though an 8-0 Knicks run to close it out made it 63-47 at the break.
The Celtics re-established a 20-point lead on a three-point play with 5:33 left in the third quarter, but Fournier followed with consecutive threes and the Knicks pulled to within 82-73 on Quickley’s three-point play with 1:44 remaining.
Randle’s layup brought the Knicks to within seven headed into the final stanza, and they eventually tied it at 96 on Fournier’s jumper with 4:04 left.
Fournier’s three with 2:06 to go gave the Knicks their first lead, 99-98. The teams traded baskets and it was 103-101 Knicks with 44 ticks remaining. A couple of foul shots for each team and it was tied at 105 after Tatum’s jump shot.
“Resilience. It was special for our team,” Randle said. “We kept battling. We obviously didn’t want to get in a hole, but we found a way to win the game.”
