Knicks Overcome Fourth Quarter Collapse, Beat Celtics in Double OT

New York led by 11 with under four minutes to play before falling apart down the stretch, yet hung on to beat Boston, 138–134.

You have to give the Knicks credit—they seem to always be on brand.

Even in victory, the Knicks remained a beautiful chaotic mess in Wednesday's season opener against the Celtics, putting their devoted fans through the wringer in what ended up being a heart-stopping 138–134 win in double overtime.

Before taking care of Boston in the extra periods, the Knicks tried their hardest to squander the game. New York led by 11 points with under four minutes to play and was up by four with nine seconds left before Jaylen Brown hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to one. Two Julius Randle free throws made the score 116–113, but Marcus Smart drilled a three at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

🚨 MARCUS SMART SENDS IT TO OT!!! 🚨

(via @NBA)pic.twitter.com/W2ZNCKxkBl

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 21, 2021

Evan Fournier hit three three-pointers in the first overtime period, but Boston answered back each time, and the two teams went scoreless for the final 2:58 to send the game to a second overtime period. Fournier stayed hot, hitting a go-ahead three with under a minute to play to give New York a 136–134 lead.

After getting a stop on the ensuing possession, Derrick Rose put the Knicks up by four with an off-balance runner with 22 seconds to play. The Knicks defense stood tall on the ensuing possession, stopping the Celtics on three shot attempts to ice the game.

Randle led the team with 35 points on 12-for-27 shooting with nine assists and eight rebounds, while Fournier had 32 on six made threes. Brown led all scorers with a career-high 46 points on 16-for-30 from the field, while Jayson Tatum struggled shooting the ball, going 7-for-30 and 2-for-15 from deep.