The New York Knicks remained in the race for the No.2 seed in the Eastern Conference after beating the Boston Celtics 112-106 on Thursday night.
Josh Hart dropped 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, and Jalen Brunson had 25 points and 10 assists for the Knicks.
New York (52-28) pulled within two games of the Celtics (54-26) for second place with two games to play for both teams.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 24 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists in his first game back on the Madison Square Garden court, where he ruptured his Achilles tendon in last season’s playoffs.
Payton Pritchard added 23 points, and Baylor Scheierman had 20, going 6 for 7 from 3-point range for Boston.
The Knicks own the tiebreaker after winning the season series 3-1 and would take the No. 2 seed with two wins and two Boston losses.
Hart sank two 3-pointers in the final 42 seconds to give New York more wins this season under Mike Brown than in its 51-31 finish last season in Tom Thibodeau’s final season.
However, the Celtics had their four-game winning streak snapped while playing without leading scorer Jaylen Brown, who averages 28.8 points, due to left Achilles tendinitis.
For the next matchups, the Knicks host Toronto on Friday in a possible playoff preview and close against Charlotte on Sunday. Boston hosts New Orleans on Friday and Orlando on Sunday.
