Forty-eight hours after losing their centerpiece superstar to a potentially career-altering Achilles injury, the Celtics delivered an emphatic message to the New York Knicks:
Even without Jayson Tatum, they’re still the defending champs. And they’re not dead yet.
Facing elimination on its home floor, Boston steamrolled the Knicks 127-102 to take Game 5 at TD Garden and extend the Eastern Conference semifinals. Game 6 is Friday at Madison Square Garden.
“Obviously, losing JT’s tough, especially for how much work he puts into the game,” Derrick White said. “… Seeing him go down was tough. But we’ve got a lot of guys out here that are highly competitive, and we didn’t want our season to end tonight. We said after Game 4 we’ve just got to win Game 5, and now we’ve got to move on and try to win Game 6.”
Jaylen Brown met the moment in his co-star’s absence, finishing with 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting, a career-high 12 assists, eight rebounds, one steal and two turnovers while methodically targeting Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. White was the top scorer for Boston, going 7-for-13 from 3-point range and 9-for-11 from the foul line for a game-high 34 points.
Center Luke Kornet was excellent off the bench, fortifying a depleted Boston frontcourt with 10 points, nine rebounds and a career-high seven blocks, six of which came in the second half as his team built and then protected a 28-point lead. The Celtics, who received a motivational pregame message from Tatum, now trail the best-of-seven series 3-2.
Brunson, who skewered the Celtics’ defense in Game 4, scored 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting before fouling out with 7:18 remaining. The Knicks also got little from two of their top role players, with starting wings Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby going a combined 5-for-26. Josh Hart scored 24 points and was 5-for-9 from three but was a minus-24.
“This team has been around a long time,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They’ve done stuff together. I think it was just we did what was necessary to do what we needed to do to get back to New York. We made winning plays on both ends of the floor. Each guy, everybody in that locker room has another layer that they can get to. They did that as the game went on, and we just have to continue to do that. But it’s a credit to the guys in the locker room that we get another shot to play.”
White carried the Celtics’ offense early with another torrid start from distance, making his first four 3-point attempts for the second straight game. The guard scored nearly half of Boston’s 30 first-quarter points, with Brown, Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser adding one 3-pointer apiece.
Pritchard logged a playoff career-high 39 minutes in the win. He hit five threes, scored 17 points and was a plus-24. Hauser (six points in 15 minutes) was making his first appearance since Game 1 of the series, having sat out the previous three with an ankle sprain.
Mazzulla also gave a rare first-quarter cameo to non-rotation wing Torrey Craig, who hadn’t played a minute outside garbage time since the regular season. Craig’s assignment might have simply been to foul Mitchell Robinson, as he played one minute and did so once before heading back to the bench.
The Celtics have willingly put Robinson on the line throughout the series, hoping his poor free-throw shooting would force him off the floor and mitigate his sizable impact as a defender and offensive rebounder. But the Knicks big man was uncharacteristically efficient from the line in this one, going 6-for-6 while racking up 13 rebounds, two steals and one block.
The Knicks led 32-30 at the end of one, then opened the second quarter with a 10-3 run that stretched their lead to nine. The shorthanded Celtics responded with an 8-0 run of their own, setting the stage for a frenetic final seven minutes of the first half that featured seven lead changes and two ties. During one especially explosive stretch, Boston and New York scored on nine out of 10 possessions, including 3-pointers by Pritchard, White and Brown and two threes by Hart, who was bloodied earlier in the game when he collided with Kornet under the basket.
The teams entered halftime tied at 59-59.
Brown was a steadying presence for Boston in the first half, complementing White’s productive perimeter game with 7-of-11 shooting, seven rebounds and six assists. The same could not be said for Kristaps Porzingis, whose lingering viral illness has severely diminished his effectiveness this postseason. Making his first start since Game 1, the big man went 0-for-3 with one rebound and was a minus-12 in 12 first-half minutes.
Mazzulla opted to start Kornet alongside Al Horford in the second half, and Porzingis watched the rest of the game from the bench. Mazzulla said his removal was health-related.
“He couldn’t breathe,” the coach said. “He was available if absolutely necessary. So that was just a decision between me and him. He was having difficulties breathing, but he wanted to be out there, and if we absolutely needed him, we would have been able to go to him and rely on him. … it’s a credit to the guys just buying into what gives us the best chance to win each and every night, and I know KP will be ready for us.”
Brown and White remained heavily involved in the third quarter. The former opened the second half by going face-to-face with Hart during a post-whistle scuffle that resulted in double technical fouls, then leaped into the Celtics bench to successfully save a loose ball. Brown also effectively attacked Towns, who picked up his fourth foul less than four minutes after halftime, and Brunson.
“I think the dive into the bench kind of changed the game for us,” Mazzulla said. “There was other game-changing plays, but I thought that was one of them. He was just great on all levels. Just took it upon himself to guard Brunson, set the tone, and he did that on both ends.”
The game turned on a call moments before that, when White was whistled for an offensive foul with the Celtics ahead 69-67. Mazzulla challenged the call and won, giving White two free throws and Brunson three fouls. Boston proceeded to score 17 of the next 20 points, a flurry that included White’s seventh made three of the night and a three-shot foul that he drew on another long-range attempt.
Brunson also joined Towns in foul trouble during that Celtics surge, going from zero fouls at halftime to five by the time the third quarter ended.
The true star of the quarter, though, was Kornet. The veteran center, who’s coming off the best season of his whirlwind career, blocked five Knicks shots in one six-minute span and followed up the last with an emphatic dunk.
“He did a great job protecting the rim,” Mazzulla said. “He did a great job defending without fouling. He did a great job on both ends of the floor. I just thought his presence was good, especially on the rebounding. He had nine rebounds, two offensive ones. He made some big-time plays for us.”
Kornet played the entire third quarter before giving way to Horford, who immediately hit a three, forced a turnover and tipped in a second-chance layup as Boston’s lead swelled to 20. Horford then was called for his fifth foul and retreated to the bench, at which point Kornet reentered and did not exit until Mazzulla sent in his subs with 2:34 remaining and the Celtics up by 24.
Brown called Kornet’s performance “stellar” and “huge.” White used the word “unbelievable.”
“He came in and just seemed to always be in the right position. Seven blocks is crazy,” said White, who also blocked three shots in the win. “He was unbelievable tonight and really stepped up when we needed him. He’s had a great season and was big-time for us tonight.”
The Celtics outscored the Knicks by 15 points in the third quarter and 10 points in the fourth, leaving no doubt after squandering their third double-digit second-half lead of the series in Game 4. They now must win Game 6 in New York and a potential Game 7 in Boston next Monday to keep their bid for back-to-back titles alive.
Just 4.4% of NBA teams that fell behind 3-1 in a playoff series recovered and advanced, and Boston will be looking to buck that trend without its best player. But even with Tatum, who underwent surgery Tuesday on his ruptured Achilles, now beginning a laborious recovery process that could wipe out most or all of his 2025-26 season, his teammates remain confident.
“Obviously it’s unfortunate what happened to JT, but I believe in this group,” Brown said. “Don’t count us out just yet.”
Originally Published: May 14, 2025 at 9:47 PM EDT