Boston Celtics @ New York Knicks
Thursday, April 9, 2026 at 7:30 PM ET
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY | Game ID: 22501168
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
NYK 26 28 27 31 112BOS 29 24 30 23 106
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Knicks stay alive in race for No. 2 seed in East, beat Celtics in Tatum's return to MSG
NEW YORK -- — Josh Hart scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, Jalen Brunson had 25 points and 10 assists, and the New York Knicks stayed alive in the race for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 112-106 victory over Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.
Tatum finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in his first game back on the Madison Square Garden court where he ruptured his Achilles tendon in last season's playoffs .
The Knicks (52-28) pulled within two games of the Celtics (54-26) for second place with two games to play for both teams. New York owns the tiebreaker after winning the season series 3-1 and would take the No. 2 seed with two wins and two Boston losses.
Hart made two 3-pointers in the final 42 seconds to give New York more wins this season under Mike Brown than in its 51-31 finish last season in Tom Thibodeau's final season.
The Knicks then knocked off the Celtics in the second round of those playoffs, helped by Tatum's season-ending injury in Game 4 of the series. He acknowledged some nervousness and anxiousness Thursday before playing again in the arena before finishing just shy of his second triple-double since returning to play last month.
The Celtics had their four-game winning streak snapped while playing without leading scorer Jaylen Brown , averaging 28.8 points, because of left Achilles tendinitis.
Payton Pritchard added 23 points and Baylor Scheierman had 20, going 6 for 7 from 3-point range.
The Knicks host Toronto on Friday in a possible playoff preview and close against Charlotte on Sunday. Boston hosts New Orleans on Friday and Orlando on Sunday.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
BOSBS B. Scheierman
DW D. White
JT J. Tatum
JW J. Walsh
NQ N. Queta
NV N. Vučević
PP P. Pritchard
SH S. Hauser
VU Vucevic
NYKJB J. Brunson
JC J. Clarkson
JH J. Hart
KT K. Towns
LS L. Shamet
MB M. Bridges
MM M. McBride
MR M. Robinson
OA O. Anunoby
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
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