On Sunday afternoon, the New York Knicks took the field for a big test against the Boston Celtics, who were looking to bounce back from a loss to the Detroit Pistons on Friday. The Knicks returned Karl-Anthony Towns to the lineup for this match after missing the last game due to injury.
It would be no exaggeration to say that the Knicks did well in this one, as New York won 111-89 over their divisional rivals and tied Boston for the number two seed in the East.
The Knicks' defense was key in this, as the score, according to a Knicks video on Twitter in the past, was 89 points, the lowest total the Celtics had scored during Joe Mazzulla's tenure as head coach.
Of course, it helped that the Celtics had a brutal game from behind the arc, with Peyton Pritchard, Jaylen Brown and Nikola Vucevic combining to go 2-16 from three-point range. However, the Knicks still did what they needed to do to make things tough on the Celtics, who had the number one offensive rating in the NBA entering this matchup.
The Knicks are now 34-19 and looking to take control of the number two seed in the East after recently losing in the Eastern Conference standings.
New trade acquisition Jose Alvarado had a solid game in Boston on Sunday, scoring 12 points and providing his trademark dangerous defense throughout the afternoon. New York will also be hoping to get OG Anunoby back soon, as the forward missed another game due to injury.
In any case, next up for the Knicks is a home game against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night in a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals. After that, New York has only one more game until the All-Star break, on Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
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