New York Knicks stay in hunt for No. 2 seed in East with late NBA win over Boston Celtics

LOS ANGELES – Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson kept the New York Knicks in the hunt for second place in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Eastern Conference as they beat the Boston Celtics 112-106 on April 9.

The tight Knicks victory in a play-off-style atmosphere at Madison Square Garden puts New York two wins behind rivals Boston (54-26) with just two regular-season games remaining.

Hart led the scoring 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 star 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,” he added.

The No. 2 spot means home-court advantage through to the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

The Knicks would have the tiebreak advantage if the two teams finish level, due to a superior head-to-head record.

The win also gives the Knicks a one-win cushion over the chasing Cleveland Cavaliers.

In a possible preview of the Eastern Conference play-offs semi-finals, a back-and-forth first half featured 10 lead changes, with Payton Pritchard (23 points in total) 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 lay-up 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 in March with the Celtics in the thick of the play-off race.

He said: “It was a big moment, a big hurdle for me. I was nervous and anxious to come back here.

“Obviously, I wanted to win and play great, but more importantly, I just kind of wanted to walk off the floor on my own two feet.”

Trailing conference champions the Detroit Pistons, Boston remain favourites to clinch the second seed, with home games on April 10 (April 11, Singapore time) against the New Orleans Pelicans and the Orlando Magic on April 12.

But they may have to secure the spot without Jaylen Brown, who missed the Knicks clash with Achilles tendinitis.

Elsewhere, the incredibly tight race for the Eastern Conference’s guaranteed play-off 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 home 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 Magic – who have won their past four in a row.

But the eighth-placed Philadelphia 76ers saw their own play-off hopes fade as they fell 113-102 to the red-hot Houston Rockets, who claimed an eighth consecutive victory.

Fans in the West were denied a matchup between the two biggest NBA stars of the past decade as the Golden State Warriors rested Stephen Curry for medical reasons against LeBron James’ 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 visiting Lakers won 119-103, with the 41-year-old James contributing 26 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. AFP