Knicks Beat Celtics in Opener in Double Overtime

When the normally gruff Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau took the podium on Wednesday evening, he did something out of character. He opened his information convention with a smile.

He had just sat — or alternatively, stood — by a double-overtime thriller to begin the year towards the Boston Celtics, a activity that highlighted 11 guide modifications and 10 ties. It was the to start with time that a Knicks home opener went into double overtime.

“The great factor is, at the conclude of the day, we got the get,” Thibodeau claimed of the Knicks’ pulling out the 138-134 victory.

It was only a regular-year game, but it felt like the basketball equivalent of the Iliad. There were star performances on equally sides, like Jaylen Brown’s vocation-large 46 details for the Celtics after his the latest bout with Covid-19, and Julius Randle’s 35 details, choosing up correct where by he still left off from carrying the Knicks very last time. Even ahead of halftime of opening night, Randle’s overall performance experienced the Garden group chanting “M-V-P!” all over again.

There was peak basketball, like Robert Williams III, the Celtics center, scoring 16 points on only five photographs, and his Knicks counterpart, Mitchell Robinson, undertaking nearly the very same factor on the other conclude.

And there was absolutely atrocious basketball, like the Knicks’ earning a defensive miscue to no cost Celtics guard Marcus Sensible for an inconceivable (and uncontested) 3-pointer that tied the score at the regulation buzzer and despatched the sport to additional time.

Not to be outdone, the Celtics skipped a broad open dunk and layup that could have sealed the game in the 2nd extra time.

Each groups were being devoid of critical players: the Celtics with no Josh Richardson and Al Horford, and the Knicks without having Taj Gibson and Nerlens Noel. And when there aren’t numerous conclusions that can be drawn from only 1 activity, in particular the very first one particular, Wednesday night time created apparent that there are some selections on the new-seem Knicks that they did not have last time.

Previous yr, the Knicks had problems using pressure off Randle, specifically with taking pictures the ball from the perimeter to create house for him late in online games. The signing of Evan Fournier, a 28-12 months-outdated in his 10th N.B.A. period, appears to have offered the Knicks a human launch valve.

Fournier made six 3-tips on Wednesday evening, including just one in the final minute of the next time beyond regulation to give the Knicks the direct for superior. He completed with 32 factors, a great deal to the reduction of a grateful Randle. He was a different important possibility in crunchtime that had to be accounted for.

“He came up tremendous clutch in people overtimes,” Randle stated. “Hit some massive photographs. So I just required to continue to keep discovering him. But Evan is great, man. He’s really smart. We talked soon after the activity. There’s items that we really feel like we can do far better and operate on. He has an exceptionally higher IQ.”

The Knicks also saw great signals from Obi Toppin, who came off the bench with 14 details in 28 minutes, the most he experienced played in a game so far in his profession. The Knicks had been 4 factors superior with Toppin on the ground, and his sturdy participate in allowed the staff to play tiny and shift Randle to the center placement. That gave the Knicks a lineup that was much more nimble.

“Obi is actually discovering how to come to be an N.B.A. participant,” Fournier said. “From what I observed from him past year, he’s truly receiving much better and greater. He understands how to make himself productive.”

It was how Toppin produced his presence felt that is probable to encourage Thibodeau to make him a everlasting element of the rotation. He routinely put the Celtics’ defense on its heels as a result of sheer electrical power and functioning the flooring at full dash to generate possibilities for himself. Toppin, now in his next period, skipped all a few of his 3-ideas and is not nevertheless a responsible shooter, but on Wednesday he produced sufficient wise cuts to compensate for it.

“Juice tells me when I’m on the courtroom with him, if I see that he has the rebound, just take off,” Toppin claimed, referring to Randle. “That’s what I do greatest. I run the ground. Each opportunity I get, I’m having out in the open up ground.”

That will be useful for the Knicks, who had been center of the road in rate final calendar year. Toppin’s endeavours have been rewarded.

“Man, hearing your identify chanted in the Backyard is incredible,” Toppin stated. “It’s an unbelievable practical experience I cannot even describe. It’s just some thing you’ve got to are living as a result of.”

This was the form of common-season environment that hadn’t been attainable all through the pandemic, even if it was only a person recreation setting up a lengthy slog of a year.

But in a competitive Jap Convention in opposition to a division rival, 1 recreation could be the variance involving possessing residence court advantage and not, as the Knicks themselves discovered out very last year to their benefit. With high aspirations, each victory matters.

“I never believe we escaped,” Randle stated. “We produced some psychological faults, errors or whatever. At the conclude of the day, we located a way to earn a activity.”