Celtics sweep Knicks in regular season for first time in five years

The Boston Celtics completed a season sweep over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night, winning the fourth and final regular-season matchup, 119-117 in overtime, at Madison Square Garden. It's the first time the Celtics have swept their Atlantic Division counterparts since the 2019-20 season.

Boston owned the first three matchups, winning by 27, 23 and 13 points. Tuesday night was a little tighter and a little uglier from a Celtics standpoint, but thanks to some big shots by Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis, Boston left New York with the team's 59th win of the season.

Tuesday night was far from perfect for Boston. The Celtics turned the ball over 15 times, which led to 22 points for New York. The C's were also outrebounded by 14, and the Knicks put up 14 more shots. 

But over their four victories against New York, the Celtics had a plus-65 point margin while shooting 50 percent from the floor and 44 percent from three. Boston averaged 21 makes from downtown against the Knicks. Outside of the final matchup, the Celtics absolutely owned the Knicks. Even when they didn't, the Celtics still won the game in a hostile environment. 

The two teams might meet again in a month or so should they both win their first-round playoff series. The Celtics will lock down the No. 2 seed in the East within the next few days, and the Knicks should end the regular season as the three-seed in the conference. Should they cross paths this postseason, it would be the first Celtics-Knicks playoff showdown since 2013.

After Tuesday's win, Celtics players and head coach Joe Mazzulla all agreed we can throw the regular-season success out the window when the postseason arrives. 

"I mean, it means nothing," Mazzulla said Tuesday night. "If anything, it's more dangerous for us thinking, one, that we're going to get to the second round. We may not get there. You have to surrender to that, that it may not go the way that you want it. There's so much that needs to happen before that, and if you don't handle what you've done against someone else, then that can actually be more detrimental to you psychologically. So it all depends on how we continue to get better as a team."

Since the Celtics don't want to look ahead just yet, we'll look back at Tuesday night's entertaining potential playoff preview. 

Kristaps Porzingis hit some deep threes for Celtics

Porzingis lit up his former team for 34 points, including 20 points in the second half and overtime. He finished with eight threes on the night, a few of which came from way downtown.

After going 3-of-7 from deep in the first half, Porzingis connected on four of his five three-pointers in the second half. His first three out of the break gave the Celtics their first lead, 60-58, and four minutes later, Porzingis sent a message with his seventh three of the night.

Mikal Bridges poked the ball away from Tatum at the wing, and the ball rolled right to Porzingis near the Knicks logo. There was seven seconds on the shot clock, but Porzingis decided to remind New York fans of his ridiculous range and casually drained a 39-footer to give Boston a 73-66 lead.

"The ball rolled to me, and I said, 'This is destiny,'" Porzingis said after the win. "So I just picked it up and let it fly."

Porzingis was feeling it no matter where he was on the floor, draining four threes from at least 27 feet and two from at least 30 feet out. He hit his eighth and final three of the night over Jalen Brunson with 40 seconds left in overtime -- a 30-footer -- and then forced a Brunson miss on the defensive end. Jrue Holiday then sealed the win for Boston with a pair of free throws.

The eight threes tied a career-high for Porzingis, who is now shooting a career-best 41.6 percent from downtown this season. 

Jayson Tatum's game-tying three

The final seconds of regulation were a roller coaster for Tatum. With Boston trailing by three with 35.1 seconds left, he was fouled by Karl-Anthony Towns while taking a three. Tatum sank his first two freebies, but then missed his third. A Josh Hart layup on the other end gave the Knicks a 107-104 lead with 11.2 seconds to play. 

But Tatum redeemed himself in the closing seconds, when he sank a filthy step-back three with 2.9 seconds remaining to send the contest to overtime. 

Clutch. 

Tatum ended up playing a season-high 48 minutes, including all of the second half and overtime. He scored 17 of his 32 points after halftime, and added seven rebounds and five assists for Boston. 

Jaylen Brown sits in fourth, OT

The Celtics had their entire starting five intact to start Tuesday's game, and every rotation regular was available outside of Al Horford. But Brown, who has been nursing a right knee injury, did not play in the fourth quarter or overtime after struggling over his 21-plus minutes of action.

"We just got what we needed to get out of him as he continues to push himself and test himself," Mazzulla said of Brown after the game. "We've still got games left, so we got what we needed to get, what we needed to see, and we just continue to move forward."

Brown finished with just six points off 2-of-8 shooting and had three turnovers. We'll see if he gets a night off Wednesday when Boston visits the Orlando Magic. 

The Celtics are road warriors

The Celtics are the best road team in the NBA this season at 33-7 away from TD Garden. With a win over the Magic in Orlando on Wednesday, Boston can tie the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors for the best road record in NBA history. 

A win would also give the Celtics their first back-to-back 60-win seasons since the 2007-08 (66-16) and 2008-09 (62-20) seasons. 

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