Knicks just did something never seen in Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla era

On Sunday afternoon, the New York Knicks hit the floor for a big test against the Boston Celtics, looking to bounce back from Friday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons. The Knicks had Karl-Anthony Towns back in the lineup for this matchup after he missed the last game due to injury.

To say the Knicks performed well in this one would be an understatement, as New York wound up coasting to a 111-89 win over their divisional rivals, to tie Boston for the number two seed in the East.

The Knicks’ defense was dominant in this one, as 89 points was the lowest total that the Celtics have reached during their tenure with Joe Mazzulla as head coach, per Knicks Videos on X, formerly Twitter.

Of course, it helped that the Celtics had a brutal game from behind the arc, with Payton 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 difficult on the Celtics, who had the number one offensive rating in the NBA entering this matchup.

The Knicks now sit at 34-19 and are looking to retake control of the number two seed in the East after a losing skid recently knocked them down in the Eastern Conference standings.

New trade acquisition Jose Alvarado had a solid game on Sunday in Boston, scoring 12 points and providing his trademark pesky defense throughout the afternoon. New York will also hope to get OG Anunoby back soon, as the forward missed another game due to injury.

In any case, up next 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 will have just one more game until the All-Star break, on Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers.

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