Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson kept the New York Knicks in the hunt for second place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference as they beat the Boston Celtics 112-106 on Thursday. The tight Knicks victory in a playoff-style atmosphere at Madison Square Garden puts New York two wins behind rival Boston with just two regular-season games remaining. Hart top-scored with 26 points, including a pair of clutch three-pointers in the final minute that took an evenly poised game out of the Celtics’ reach.
In a match that featured 16 lead changes, Knicks superstar Brunson provided another standout performance, including 25 points and 10 assists. Asked about teammate Hart, Brunson joked: “I don’t want to say anything too good about him right now, but he played really well.” “We kept coming back and finding a way,” Brunson added. The No.2 spot means home-court advantage through to the Eastern semifinals. The Knicks would have the tie-break advantage if the two teams finish level, due to a superior head-to-head. Thursday’s win also gives the Knicks a one-win cushion over the chasing Cleveland Cavaliers.
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In a possible preview of the Eastern playoffs second round, a back-and-forth first half featured 10 lead changes, with Payton Pritchard and Brunson scoring freely at opposite ends. After the break, the Knicks quickly opened up a 13-point lead. Yet they found themselves trailing at the end of the third quarter, as the Celtics rallied with seven three-pointers, including six from the bench. The Celtics’ Baylor Scheierman was particularly potent from behind the arc, sinking his fifth and sixth three-pointers of the night to put Boston up 104-103 with barely two minutes left. But a Hart layup and a Brunson free throw restored the Knicks’ lead, before Hart finished the game off.
On an emotional return to the fabled Manhattan arena where he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon nearly a year ago, Boston star Jayson Tatum top-scored for the Celtics with 24 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists. Tatum has defied the odds to return this season, making his debut last month with the Celtics in the thick of the playoff race. Trailing conference champions the Detroit Pistons, Boston remain favorites to clinch second, with games Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans and Sunday against the Magic. But they may have to secure the spot without Jaylen Brown, who missed Thursday’s clash with Achilles tendinitis.
– Playoff race –
Elsewhere, the incredibly tight race for the Eastern Conference’s final guaranteed playoff spots took yet more twists. The top six automatically progress to the post-season, while teams finishing seventh to tenth must enter a knockout play-in tournament next week to join them. The Toronto Raptors, boosted by Brandon Ingram’s 38 points, gained a valuable 128-114 win over the Miami Heat, rising from sixth to fifth. It leaves both the Raptors and the Atlanta Hawks one win clear of the in-form Orlando Magic — who have won their past four in a row. But the eighth-placed Philadelphia 76ers saw their own playoff hopes fade as they fell 113-102 to the red-hot Houston Rockets, who claimed an eighth consecutive victory.
And fans in the West were denied a match-up between the two biggest NBA stars of the past decade as the Golden State Warriors rested Stephen Curry for medical reasons against LeBron James’s Los Angeles Lakers. Facing the play-ins next week, the Warriors opted to give an extra recovery day to Curry, who had only recently returned from a 27-game knee injury absence. The Lakers won 119-103 and James top-scored with 26 points, plus 11 assists and eight rebounds.
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