Tatum's 36-Point Masterclass Sends Champion Knicks to Second Straight Loss

Jayson Tatum had seen enough of New York's fourth-quarter fightback. With the Celtics' lead cut to a single point and the defending champions smelling a famous road win, the Boston star scored nine of his game-high 36 in the final six minutes to carry his side to a 107-103 victory at TD Garden on Friday night.

Tatum added nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals in Boston's home opener, bouncing back from Tuesday's opening-night defeat in Detroit. The Celtics appeared comfortable when a Neemias Queta three-point play made it 94-82 — their third 12-point lead of the fourth quarter — but the Knicks answered with a 9-0 run and Karl-Anthony Towns' dunk made it 94-91 with 4:09 to play. A Jalen Brunson fallaway then cut it to 99-98 with 1:41 remaining, before Tatum took over: a turnaround over Josh Hart, a long corner fallaway over Hart again, and a dagger three-pointer that made it 106-100. Miles McBride's three trimmed it once more, but Payton Pritchard split free throws with 11 seconds left to ice it.

Queta was superb off the bench with 15 points and three blocks, while Paul George added 15 and Derrick White 12. Towns (22 points, 10 rebounds), OG Anunoby (20 and 10) and Hart (10 and 12) all recorded double-doubles for New York, and McBride chipped in 20 off the bench, but Brunson shot just 7-of-17 and Mikal Bridges went scoreless on 0-of-8 shooting and was benched for the final eight and a half minutes. For the Knicks, 0-2 marks their first back-to-back defeats since April's playoff series against Atlanta — a stumble few saw coming from the team that ended a 53-year title drought in June. Boston hosts the Bulls on Monday.