Game ID: 22300065
Boston Celtics @ New York Knicks
Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 7:00 PM ET
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
NYK 18 28 27 31 104BOS 30 21 31 26 108
BOS @ NYK ScoutingBOS @ NYK Scouting
Welcome to the scouting desk. The coffee is cold, the film is play-by-play, and somebody has to explain what happened.
Every game has a hinge — a stretch where it was decided, usually while everyone was watching something else. Start where the evidence lives: the Lineups' face-offs say which five actually won their minutes; the Possessions ledger says who ran ahead of the night's own pace; the Shot Chart says where the points really came from, which is rarely where the highlights were. When all three agree, that is the story. When they don't — that is why this desk has a chair.
NYK availability going into 10/25 · season opener
full strength
NYK availability going into 10/27 · 1 day's rest
full strength
NYK availability going into 10/28 · back-to-backOUT McBride missed 2 since 10/25, returns tonight: 4 min (22% of 21)
OUT Fournier missed 2 since 10/25, out tonight
OUT Sims missed 2 since 10/25, returns tonight: 4 min (37% of 12)
NYK availability going into 10/31 · 2 days' restOUT Fournier missed 3 since 10/25, out tonight
BACK McBride back 10/28 after 2, 4 min since (22% of 21)
BACK Sims back 10/28 after 2, 4 min since (37% of 12)
NEW Robinson 24 to 30 min over the last 3
NYK availability going into 11/01 · back-to-backOUT Fournier missed 4 since 10/25, out tonight
BACK McBride back 10/28 after 2, 4 min since (21% of 21)
BACK Sims back 10/28 after 2, 4 min since (30% of 12)
BOS availability going into 10/25 · season opener
full strength
BOS availability going into 10/27 · 1 day's rest
full strength
BOS availability going into 10/30 · 2 days' restOUT Queta missed 2 since 10/25, out tonight
BOS availability going into 11/01 · 1 day's restOUT Queta missed 3 since 10/25, out tonight
BOS availability going into 11/04 · 2 days' restOUT Queta missed 4 since 10/25, out tonight
10/25 vs BOS 104-108 — NYK notes
NYK lost 104-108. NYK took 20 more shots (97 to 77), fed by 17 offensive rebounds, but shot 37% to BOS's 48%, 18 of 41 from three. Barrett led with 24 (8 of 20, 2 of 5 from three, 6 of 7 at the line); Quickley added 24, Brunson 15. Q2 was theirs, 28-21, the deficit cut from 12 to 5, but the other 3 periods went 87-76 against them. Randle's -13 in 34 minutes was the worst on the floor.
10/25 @ NYK 108-104 — BOS notes
BOS won 108-104. BOS shot 48% (37 of 77) to NYK's 37%, 12 of 39 from three. Tatum led with 34 (13 of 22, 3 of 8 from three, 5 of 6 at the line); Porziņģis added 30, White 12. The hinge was Q1, 30-18: from level to 12 ahead. Porziņģis was the night's best plus/minus at +13.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
BOSAH A. Horford
DW D. White
JB J. Brown
JH J. Holiday
JT J. Tatum
KP K. Porziņģis
LK L. Kornet
PP P. Pritchard
SH S. Hauser
NYKDD D. DiVincenzo
IH I. Hartenstein
IQ I. Quickley
JB J. Brunson
JH J. Hart
JR J. Randle
MR M. Robinson
QG Q. Grimes
RB R. Barrett
BOS/NYK the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
END the clock ran out, ball in hand
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur
Porzingis makes tiebreaking 3-pointer in strong Celtics debut, helps Boston beat Knicks 108-104
NEW YORK -- — Kristaps Porzingis showed against his old team why his new one is an NBA Finals favorite.
Porzingis made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1:29 left and scored 30 points in a strong Celtics debut, Jayson Tatum had 34 points and 11 rebounds, and Boston beat the New York Knicks 108-104 on Wednesday night in the season opener for each team.
Porzingis finished with eight rebounds and four blocked shots against his original NBA club, showing why the Celtics should be in contention for another banner after acquiring the 7-foot-3 center and Jrue Holiday during the offseason.
Porzingis set a record for highest-scoring Celtics debut.
“Honestly, it’s an awesome feeling to come back now being a Celtic and play here,” he said. “Even getting booed and getting all that, it’s still cool, I really like that and enjoyed that. But most importantly we won the game and very excited about what we have ahead of us.”
Holiday had a key basket after the Knicks opened a six-point lead with 3:40 left before Porzingis scored Boston's next nine points, including the 3-pointer that snapped a 101-all tie.
Holiday scored nine points. Derrick White had 12 for the Celtics, and Jaylen Brown had 11 points, six rebounds and five assists.
RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley each scored 24 points for the Knicks, who started slowly but opened the fourth quarter with a 13-2 run to take their first lead of the game. They couldn't hold on against one of the NBA's best teams.
“I thought the start of the game hurt us and then I thought the second, third and fourth we played better,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.
“It’s still choppy, we’re working through things, but we have to be ready and alert."
Porzingis was the No. 4 pick by the Knicks in 2015 and was an All-Star in 2017-18, but soured on the organization while recovering from a torn ACL. He was traded during the 2018-19 season.
Porzingis has developed into the player the Knicks had hoped, averaging a career-best 23.2 points last season for Washington.
“KP is hungry and excited to be here and knows how important he is to this team and what we need him to bring each and every night,” Tatum said.
Shortly after being loudly booed during pregame introductions, Porzingis had three 3-pointers and 15 points in the first quarter, which ended with Boston up 30-18. But he didn’t take a shot in nearly eight minutes of playing time in the second and the Knicks cut it to 51-46 at the half.
Tatum scored Boston’s first nine points of the second half to push the lead back into double digits. The Knicks would charge back to tie it midway through the third on Jalen Brunson’s 3-pointer, but the Celtics went back ahead 82-73 as Porzingis beat the buzzer with a follow shot.
With Porzingis starting, Al Horford came off the bench for the first time since doing so six times in 2019-20 in Philadelphia. He had only done it only four other times in more than 1,000 career games, for Atlanta as a rookie in 2007-08.
Horford finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
Brunson struggled to 15 points on 6-for-21 shooting. Julius Randle shot 5 for 22 en route to his 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
The Knicks missed 11 of their first 13 shots, making two dunks and nothing else.