The Knicks have been the bullies on the glass Monday evening.
After getting outrebounded for a lot of the sequence, they owned the boards in Sport 4.
Of their 121-113 victory over the defending champion Celtics, the Knicks have been plus-12 and restricted Boston to a series-low seven offensive rebounds.
The Knicks turned 13 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance factors themselves. Mitchell Robinson was a key a part of that, grabbing 5 offensive boards in his 25 minutes.
“When you’re playing against him, you understand what he brings to the team, and when you’re playing as one of his teammates, you see even more the magnitude, the impact he has on the game,” Karl-Anthony Cities mentioned. “He was just special tonight, doing everything we needed him to do.”
Cities was key on the glass as properly, bringing down a team-high 11 rebounds. Eight of these have been defensive boards. A number of Knicks got here up massive in that class. Josh Hart had seven defensive rebounds and Mikal Bridges tallied six.
“They’re the defending champions, they have some of the most talented players in the NBA,” Cities mentioned. “You got to make sure they only get one chance at a shot. [We were] trying to make sure they don’t get second-chance points.”
The Celtics wound up with solely 9 second-chance factors, their fewest within the sequence.
OG Anunoby left the court docket late within the first quarter and went to the locker room.
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His hamstring was bothering him. He wound up scoring 20 factors in 40 minutes.
Afterward, he mentioned the hamstring felt “weird,” however he was wonderful.
Jalen Brunson has scored 30 factors in 17 playoff video games as a Knick, one shy of Patrick Ewing’s franchise document of 18.
He additionally grew to become the ninth Knick to achieve 1,000 playoff factors.
After hitting 32 3-pointers on 64 makes an attempt within the final six quarters of the sequence, the Celtics went 6-for-24 from deep within the second half. … Celtics reserve ahead Sam Hauser (sprained proper ankle) remained out. It was the third straight sport he has missed.
