Final
Celtics overwhelm Knicks with second-half surge
Feb 26, 2015 - 5:45 AM Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Jonas Jerebko's 20 points and a huge second- half run carried the Boston Celtics to a 115-94 win over the New York Knicks at TD Garden.Jerebko played a key role in a 34-6 swing overlapping the third and fourth quarters that turned a six-point Celtics' deficit into a commanding 96-74 lead with 7:45 remaining.
"We were playing good basketball on the offensive end," Celtics forward Jae Crowder said. "We just had to find a way to get stops and play up and down, so once we started doing that the game started going our way."
Evan Turner did his part as well with a 10-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple double in Boston's sixth victory in nine games. Isaiah Thomas chipped in 19 points and Jae Crowder supplied 18 as the Celtics received a huge effort from their second unit.
Andrea Bargnani paced the lowly Knicks with a season-best 17 points, while Jason Smith, Lou Amundson and Langston Galloway all tallied 14 in New York's eighth consecutive loss.
Down 68-62 midway through the third quarter, the Celtics dominated the final six minutes of the period to move in front for good.
Boston outscored the Knicks 18-4 over the remainder of the stanza while getting contributions from several players. Thomas sank four straight free throws for a 75-72 lead, and Jerebko followed a Brandon Bass layup by beating the buzzer on a 3-pointer that put the Celtics up by eight entering the fourth quarter.
The Celtics kept rolling from there, as Smart knocked down back-to-back treys to ignite a 16-2 stretch to begin the final frame. The rookie finished off the tear with a reverse layup to extend Boston's advantage to 96-74.
New York never got its deficit under 17 points the rest of the way.
"We couldn't adjust to what was going on with them going smaller, so we were just trying to keep playing the way we were and they just kept hitting some big shots," Galloway said.
Neither team was ahead by more than six during a tightly contested opening half. The Knicks owned a 25-23 edge after one quarter behind eight points from Tim Hardaway, and were up 39-33 midway through the second before Crowder netted the final six points of an 11-4 run that sent Boston in front.
New York answered with the next four points, however, and eventually went into the break owning a 49-48 lead.
Game Notes
Boston's bench outscored New York's reserves by a 61-39 margin ... Thomas added seven assists and went 11-of-11 from the foul line in his first appearance at TD Garden since being traded to the Celtics from Phoenix last week ... Smith finished with 10 rebounds ... The Knicks had won in three of their previous four trips to TD Garden, including a 101-95 decision on Dec. 12.
- NEW YORK: 94
BOSTON: 115
Final
Feb 25 9:49 PM - NEW YORK: 72
BOSTON: 80
End of 3rd
Feb 25 9:17 PM - NEW YORK: 49
BOSTON: 48
Halftime
Feb 25 8:37 PM - NEW YORK: 25
BOSTON: 23
End of 1st
Feb 25 8:02 PM - NEW YORK: 0
BOSTON: 0
1st Quarter - 12:00
Feb 25 7:40 PM
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