The New York Knicks have done it again! Madison Square Garden rocked last night as the boys in blue and orange pushed the defending champions to the edge with a thrilling 121-113 victory over the Boston Celtics. The win puts the Knicks 3-1 up in their best-of-seven series, just one win away from their first Eastern Conference finals in 25 years!
Jalen Brunson was simply unstoppable, dropping 39 points and dishing out 12 assists in a performance that had the packed Garden crowd going wild. When asked about his second-half surge, Brunson kept it humble: “Just find a way to make plays and get us going… I was just in the flow.”
The Celtics came out strong, building a double-digit lead early and taking a 62-51 advantage into half-time. But something clicked for the Knicks after the break! Playing their starters the entire third quarter, New York outscored Boston 37-23 to flip the game on its head and set up a nail-biting final period.
In a worrying turn for Celtics fans, superstar Jayson Tatum (who had scored a playoff-high 42 points) collapsed with a leg injury in the closing minutes. The sight of Tatum being wheeled to the locker room with hands covering his face cast a dark shadow over an already difficult night for Boston.
The defending champions now face a mountain to climb. Only 13 teams in NBA history have ever come back from 3-1 down in a playoff series. Can they become the 14th, or will the Knicks finally break their quarter-century conference finals drought?
“They played phenomenal, didn’t quit, they kept fighting,” Brunson said of his teammates. “That’s what’s most important whenever we get in a hole – you can’t quit and we showed that.”
Game 5 heads to Boston on Wednesday night. Can the Knicks finish the job, or will the champions live to fight another day? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
