Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 36 points, including nine late in the fourth quarter, as the Boston Celtics withstood a late comeback bid by the visiting New York Knicks to escape with a 107-103 victory on Friday.
Tatum finished with nine rebounds and seven assists for the Celtics, who have split their first two games. Paul George and reserve Neemias Queta had 15 points apiece while Derrick White added 12 points.
Celtics center Mitchell Robinson, the lone member of the Knicks’ rotation who didn’t return to the defending NBA champions, had four points and four rebounds in 22-plus minutes.
Karl-Anthony Towns (22 points, 10 rebounds), OG Anunoby (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Josh Hart (10 points, 12 rebounds) all had double-doubles for the Knicks, who have lost their first two games.
New York has taken consecutive losses for the first time since dropping Games 2 and 3 of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks in April, after which the Knicks won 15 of the next 16 games to clinch their first title since 1973.
Miles McBride scored 20 points off the New York bench, while Jalen Brunson had 19 points.
The Celtics led by as many as 12 points three times in the fourth quarter, the last at 94-82 on a three-point play by Queta, before the Knicks mounted a 9-0 run. Boston missed seven consecutive shots as New York rallied.
Towns dunked to pull the Knicks within 94-91 with 4:09 left, but he missed a long 3-point attempt 28 seconds later and Tatum responded with a layup to end the Celtics’ drought.
The Knicks got within 99-98 on Brunson’s fallaway jumper with 1:41 remaining, but Tatum sank a turnaround over Hart following a timeout and Towns was whistled for an illegal screen on the next possession. Tatum then hit a long corner fallaway, again over Hart, to extend the lead to 103-98.
Anunoby answered with two free throws, but Tatum hit a 3-pointer on the next possession. McBride sank a 3-pointer before Payton Pritchard iced the win by splitting a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left.
