Knicks 102 vs 127 Celtics summary stats, scores and highlights | NBA Playoffs Game 5

This was the cherry on top. The Celtics come into a tough situation having lost their star just two days ago, and they keep their season alive with a gutsy performance from TD Garden. Kornet was the star of the show, so he gets the final highlight as Boston stretches this series out to a sixth game. 

Boston will look to stay alive on Friday night at MSG but the Knicks know they have a golden opportunity to close out the defending champs at home. 

The Boston Celtics never let their foot off the gas knowing they had already given up 3 big leads in the second half games this series. The continued to press and stretched the lead out to 28 points. Brown had 26 points and also set a playoff career high with 12 assists. With Tatum out, Brown knows this is his team. He made it work in Game 5 but still has a lot of work to do. 

I was hoping there would be a Luke Kornet highlight because he was the star of the night. He came off the bench and dominated in the paint. He had 10 points, 9 rebounds, 7 blocks and set the tone on the defensive end as the TD Garden fed off his energy all evening. 

The Celtics broke this game open with an 11-0 run early in the third quarter. They got into the bonus after the first few minutes out of the halftime break and built their lead up from the FT line, and the occasional three like this one from Pritchard who had 17 off the bench. 

White went wild from downtown. He was 7/13 from behind the arc and ended the night with 34 points. The Celtics have a lot of scoring options. I get that, but at some point you have to keep an eye on White. He continues to get great look after great look, and if you let him, he will take the game over. 

This is the kind of hustle that keeps you alive in a must win situation. Brown had a great game offensively but he knew he was going to have to bring the intensity on the defensive end. 

Brunson had a nice first half as the C's and Knicks went to the break tied up, but Brunson would pick up five fouls in the third quarter and foul out early in the fourth with just 22 points. 

Both teams were sharing control of the game as each team would go on a run only to have it answered just moments later. The game came to life at the end of the first half as Jaylen Brown came to life. He was obviously going to need to have a big game after the Tatum injury and he delivered. 

The Knicks absorbed the early hot streak from Boston and took the lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to a quick start from Bridges. He had 7 in the first quarter but ended the game with 9 points in the loss to the Celtics. 

Someone was going to have to step up in the absence of Jayson Tatum. Obviously the scoring was going to be a big part, but more than anything the Celtics needed to fill TD Garden with energy and belief. That's was White did for his team and those in Boston on Wednesday night. 

The Boston Celtics live to play another day after their Game 5 win without Jayson Tatum. Derrick White stepped up in the absence of the C's star, scoring 34 points in the 127-102 win. 

White came out scorching from the three point line and never cooled down. He had 4 triples in the first half of last game, and had four in the first few minutes of Game 5. 

IT'S ALL OVER!!!

The Celtics survive in Boston to force a Game 6 back in New York!

McBride bangs in a three and that's going to do it from Boston!!!

Queta on the alley oop off the lob from Davidson!

Shamet to the line after the foul on Scheirman and he hits one of two. 

Davidson sinks a three ball to beat the buzzer with an off balanced triple try!

Dadiet gets to the iron and lays it up and in. 

Queta to the rack and he jams it as the subs for both teams are in. 

Holiday pulls the trigger from the top of the key and hits the long ball!

Hart drills the three ball from the top of the key. 

White to the line and he gets the lay up to go in traffic. 

Anunoby to the line after the foul on Kornet and he hits one of two FTs. 

KAT to the line after a delay of game on BOS and he hits the FT. 

Brown pulls up from the elbow and hits it over Anunoby. He's got 26 on the night. 

KAT to the line after the foul on Holiday and he hits both FTs. 

Pritchard from the wing and he drills the three ball off the dish from Brown!!

KAT with the catch and put up in the lane. 

KAT to the rack and he lays it up and in. 

Lob up to Kornet from Brown and he throws down a reverse alley oop!

Brown pulls up from outside the lane and hits the fader. 

It was a foul on Brown and the Knicks are going to challenge but that looks like the end of his night. 

Timeout with 7:19 to go in the 4th quarter. 

BRUNSON JUST FOULED OUT!!!

Brunson to the line after the foul on Brown and he hits both FTs. 

Holiday slashes to the cup on the baseline and he lays it up and in after the feed across the lane from Brown!

Timeout Knicks with 7:36 to go in the 4th quarter. 

Pritchard to the cup and he lays it up and in after White found him on the backdoor cut. 

Brunson back to the line where he hits both FTs after the foul on White. 

Pritchard on the step back on Brunson and he hits the three from the wing!

Brunson to the line after the foul on Holiday and he hits both FTs. 

Towns on the follow and put back after the miss from Bridges. 

Horford fouled Brunson and the Celtics are going to challenge that with 9:42 to go. 

Holiday makes it a 22 point game with a three ball from the wing!

Brunson to the line after the foul on White and he hits one of two FTs. 

Holiday misses the three ball but Horford followed it up with a tip in! He's got 5 straight points to start the quarter!

Horford start the quarter off with a three ball from the wing!!!

WE ARE AT THE END OF THE THIRD QUARTER AND THE CELTICS TAKE A 15 POINT LEAD INTO THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THIS GAME!

Kornet with the block on one end and Hauser got it back to him down low for the big slam! TD Garden is rocking right now!

Brunson fouls White, and that's his fifth! White hits both FTs and that a huge play with under 3:00 to go in the third quarter!

Hauser sends Robinson to the line where he hits both FTs. 

Brown in the lane and he gets fouled by Brunson, his fourth, and Brown hits one of two FTs. 

Hauser sends KAT to the line where he hits both FTs. 

Holiday to the cup and he lays it up and in off the screen and roll with Hauser. 

Bridges with a pull up fader from inside the lane out of the timeout. 

Hauser drills a three ball from the wing and he sticks it from the wing! 

Timeout Knicks with 5:10 to go in the 3rd quarter!!

Brown to the line after the foul on Anunoby but he misses both FTs. 

Brunson breaks up the run with a one footed fader from the elbow. 

Pritchard drills the three ball from the corner and BOS are on an 11-0 run!

Hart sends White to the line on the three ball and he hits all three FTs. He's got 30 on the. night!!!

White drains another triple try and he's putting on a show from TD Garden! He's got 7 threes and has 27 on the night!

Timeout Knicks with 8:06 to go in the 3rd quarter!

Towns just picked up foul number four with 8:40 to go and Brown goes to the line where he hits two FTs. BOS is in the bonus for the rest of the quarter. 

Hart to the line after the foul on Kornet and he hits one of two FTs. 

The call is reversed so White goes to the line and Brunson is called for the foul! That's Brunson's third. White hits one of two FTs. 

White was called for an offensive foul for lifting the elbow on Brunson on his way to the bucket. Boston is going to challenge with 9:07 to go in the third quarter. 

Anunoby sends White to the line and he hits one of two FTs. 

Hart to the line after the foul on Horford, his fourth, and he hits both FTs. 

White answers back with a three ball from the wing! He's sixth of the night!

Bridges swings it back to Hart on the wing and he drills the three ball!

Brunson sends Brown to the line and he hits both FTs. 

Holiday takes Brunson to the rack and lays it up and in and gets the foul! FT is no good but Kornet is there for the offensive rebound and tip in. 

Brunson finds Hart at the top of the key and he drills the three ball!

Hart and Brown involved in a little scuffle to start the half. Both got a tech and we play on. 

WE ARE BACK IN BOSTON WITH THE SECOND HALF OF GAME 5!!

This game heated up at the end of the first quarter. Both teams went back and forth as Brown stepped up and looked like he was gearing up for a big second half. He's got 17, White has 19 but Brunson has 13 and Hart has 12 to lead New York. 

Mitchell Robinson has been great all series. Even better, tonight he's 4/4 from the FT line. As always he was putting in work on the defensive end and that led to points on the other end. 

The Knicks absorbed the early blow thrown by White and the Celtics. Bridges had 7 in the first quarter to lead NY early on. 

With no Jayson Tatum, the question was: who was going to pick up the slack for the Celtics? Derrick White answered the call. He had 4 threes in the first quarter. 

This game has gone back and forth for the first 24 minutes. The Celtics got off to a fantastic start thanks to some sensational shooting from Derrick White. 

WE ARE HEADING TO THE HALFTIME BREAK AND IT'S ALL TIED UP FROM BOSTON!!!

Brown pulls up from the elbow and he hits the mid range jumper. 

Brunson back down and splitting the defense for the lay up and the foul on Horford! FT is no good. 

Brown drills a spot up three ball to tie it up and he's got 15 on the night!

Anunoby to the line after the timeout and he hits both FTs. 

Holiday called for the foul, his third! Anunoby at the line after the timeout with 2:16 to go in the 2nd quarter!

White answers back with a three ball from the wing and that's his first since his four in the first quarter!

Brunson finds Hart again, this time on the wing and he has back to back three balls!

Brunson to the corner for Hart and he drills the triple try on the catch and shoot!

Pritchard with a pump fake and he pulls the trigger from the top of the key!

Brunson goes right at the cup and lays it up in traffic. He's got 11 on the night. 

Horford wide open down low and Holiday found him for the slam!

Brunson in the deep corner and he drills the three ball off the feed from McBride!

Brown pulls up and give the Celtics the lead with the FT line jumper. 

Brown from the top of the key and he drains the three ball to tie it up!

Brunson back into the game and he goes right at the rack for a lay up to break up the Celtics 8-0 run. 

Holiday to the line after the foul on Payne, his third, and Holiday hits one of two FT. 

Pritchard drives and kicks out to Horford who nails the three from the corner!

Brown goes coast to coast and soars to the rim for the lay up in transition. 

White to the line after the foul on Payne and he hits both FTs. 

Hart into the paint and he hits the hook shot over Horford. 

Holiday to the line after the foul on Payne and he hits one of two FTs. 

McBride drills a three ball off the pull up from the wing and he hits it over Holiday!

Timeout Celtics with 9:08 to go in the 2nd quarter!!

Towns just picked up his third foul after getting his shot blocked by White. There is just under 10:00 to go in the first half. 

White sends McBride to the line where he hits both FTs. 

Horford slicing through the lane and he lays it up and in with the left hand. 

Towns spot up from the wing and hits a deep two over Porzingis. 

KAT to the line after the foul on Horford and he hits one of two FTs. 

WE ARE AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER AND THE KNICKS LEAD BY ONE AFTER A 7-0 RUN TO END THE FIRST 12. 

White had 14 points on 4/5 shooting from three, but he and the Celtics trail by one. Bridges leads NY with 7, KAT has 5 and Brunson and Hart have 4. 

Bridges down low off the feed from the baseline from Brunson and he lays it up and in to beat the buzzer. 

Porzingis at the line after the foul on Robinson and he hits one of two FTs. 

Anunoby on the step back and he drills the three from the wing!

Robinson to the line after the foul on Kornet and he hits both FTs! He's 4/4 from the line tonight!

Hauser in the corner and Brown found him for the triple try!

McBride answers back with a three ball from the wing off the dish from Brunson!

Pritchard off the bench and on to the scoreboard with a three ball from the top of the key!

Robinson follows up his miss and jams it home on the third chance points. 

Timeout Knicks with 2:14 to go in the 1st quarter!

Robinson to the the after the foul on Craig and he hits both FTs. 

Brown misses the lay up but Kornet was there with the follow up and jam. 

It was ruled a regular foul so Hart goes to the line where he hits both FTs. He stays in the game after getting patched up. 

Hart just went to the cup and took a Kornet elbow to the eyebrow and it split his eye open! He needs to get patched up to take FTs or he's done for the night. 

Brown answers back with a wide open three ball from the wing!

KAT was left open at the top of the key and he strokes the three ball!

White with another three ball! His fourth of the quarter and he is officially on fire!!!

Brunson into traffic and he gets a tough lay up to fall. 

The seas part for White and he streaks to the rack for the lay up. 

Brown dumps it down to Kornet down low and he slams it home on the baseline. 

White with another three ball this one from the top of the key! He's got three in the first six minutes of the game!

Hart with the rebound on one end and he goes right to the rim for the lay up. 7-0 run from NY. 

Brunson gets into the lane and floats it up and over Porzingis. 

Timeout Boston with 8:06 to go in the 1st quarter. 

Bridges steps into a three off the dish from Anunoby and strokes it! He's got 5 early points. 

White with the three ball from the top of the key and he's got two already!! Is he going to be the one to carry this team tonight?

KAT to the line after the foul on Horford and he hits both FTs. 

Brown spins in the lane and he fades from the cup down low for the short jumper. 

Derrick White steps into a three ball from the wing off the dish from Brown and he strings it. 

Bridges on the fader in the lane and he is getting going right where he left off. 

GAME 5 IS UNDERWAY FROM BOSTON!!!

Celtics starters

One of the questions coming into tonight was how is the first five going to look with Tatum on the sidelines. Joe Mazzulla is going with a big line up down low. It's Porzingis and Horford with Brown, White and Holiday out of the gate in Game 5. 

Knicks first five

The Knicks know what works and they are going with what works. They haven't always come out of the gates strong, but they finish strong. New York might smell blood in Boston tonight. We will see if that's the case in the first few minutes. It's KAT, Anunoby, Hart, Bridges and Brunson to tip things off from TD Garden. 

Injury report: Knicks 

The New York Knicks not only lead by three games to one in the series, but they are the healthier of the two teams. They got through a tough first round series against a physical team in Detroit and now they have stayed healthy against the defending champions. KAT did have an injury scare with his non shooting wrist in Game 3, but he brushed it off in Game 4 and helped the Knicks win with another playoff double double. The top priority for the Knicks will be closing out the series tonight, but right behind that will be staying healthy for the games to come, in this series or the next. 

Injury report: Celtics  

Jayson Tatum is obviously out for tonight, for the rest of the series and for the rest of the playoffs after suffering a devastating injury in Game 4. He is out so everyone else is going to have to step up, including Sam Hauser who has been on the injury list for most of this series, but is listed as probably tonight. He can help the Celtics off the bench, especially from the three point line. Tatum’s absence will be felt tonight, but the Celtics have to have the rest of the cast step up if they want to stretch their season out for at least another day. 

History of 3-1 holes 

We all know the history way too well. Teams that dig themselves 3-1 holes very rarely get out of those holes alive. In the history of 7 games series in the NBA, there have been 294 3-1 leads. Only 13 teams have ever come back from that sort of hole. That’s just 4.4% of teams while 95.6 have gone on to close the series. The last 3-1 comeback in the NBA Playoffs came in 2020 when the Nuggets came back on the Clippers in the NBA Bubble right after coming back on the Jazz who also went up 3-1 in the first round series. The odds are stacked against the defending champions, and the job just got that much tougher with Jayson Tatum tearing his achilles. 

The Cardiac Knicks

It has been one of the more shocking series in recent memory, but we really shouldn’t be surprised considering the nature of this postseason. The Indiana Pacers have made a few miraculous late game comebacks, but those were a couple of flurries in a matter of a few minutes. The Knicks have been more calculated and long lasting. They were down 20 in the second halves of both Games 1 and 2 and were able to comeback. Game 4 seemed closer, but don’t forget that Boston was up 14 in the early minutes of the third quarter. The Knicks came back to win that game, and this is a team that is led by a coach in Tom Thibedeaux who will never let his guys give up and that has showed in this series. It doesn’t matter if the C’s are up by 30 in the 4th, the Knicks will still think they can win the game and they have given us no reason to believe otherwise. 

KAT trade worked out for both sides

It was one of the trades of last offseason and it seems to be one of those deals in which everyone wins. The New York Knicks dealt Julius Randle (and Donte DiVincenzo) to the Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns. It took both teams a little while to adjust to the changes, but now they are both rolling as it seems like the players that each of the teams received were exactly what they one and other needed. Now here KAT and the Wolves and Randle and Knicks are, a game away from the Conference Finals and there is a real chance that New York and Minnesota meet in the NBA Finals. 

Tatum KOed until next season

It was a double dose of disaster with just a few minutes left in Game 4. Already down by seven points, the Celtics lost the ball, OG Anunoby dunked to put the Knicks up 9 and on the other end of the court there Jayson Tatum was, writhing in pain clutching his lower leg. No one wanted to speculate, but everyone could see what most likely happened to him. After getting helped off the floor and wheelchaired to the locker room with his head in his hands hiding his emotion, the Celtics worst fear was confirmed. Jayson Tatum suffered a torn achilles that will keep him out for the rest of the playoffs and into the start of next season. It was a devastating blow for a team and a player that came into this postseason with hopes of repeating. Now he will spend the offseason rehabbing to get his team back to a position to make another run to the NBA Finals. 

Star watch: Celtics 

We haven’t talked much about Jaylen Brown this series because there hasn’t been a whole lot to talk about. The 2024 NBA Finals MVP has been struggling to make his mark in this series. He is shooting just 37% from the field and is 7/31 from three point range in this series. Brown is averaging just 20.5 points and has only had one truly great performance in this postseason. That came in Game 2 against the Magic when Jayson Tatum was out with a wrist injury. He’s going to have to be great again tonight with Tatum sidelined for the rest of the postseason. Does he have enough to keep the series alive? Does he have enough to advance the C’s to the next round? Does he have enough to carry Boston to a back to back title run all on his own? We will see. 

Star watch: Knicks  

Mr. Clutch as been Mr. Everything for New York in this series. He will admit he’s got off to some pretty tepid starts to the last few games, but Jalen Brunson has been the catalyst to all three of the Knicks comeback wins. He went off after the halftime break in Game 4, scoring 18 points, on his way to a 39 point night in which he went 14/25 from the field. On top of that he had 12 assists. He is averaging 30 points and 8 assists a game in the postseason and he is almost always the smallest guy on the court. When crunch time comes around, he puts his Superman cape on and takes over. That’s what he’ll be looking to do in tonight’s close out game. 

Game 4 recap

It was kind of the same ole story in Game 4 from New York. After the Celtics won their first game of the series in Game 3, they controlled the game on Monday night from the start. Jayson Tatum was extraordinary, scoring 44 points and the Celtics had a 14 point lead in the third quarter, but again the defending champions couldn’t hold on to their lead as Jalen Brunson and the Knick heated up in the second half. Brunson scored 18 of his 39 in the third quarter as the Knicks took the lead and held on to it for the rest of the night. A late 11-0 4th quarter run from the Knicks put Boston to the sword and during that time, disaster struck as Jayson Tatum went down with a ruptured achilles in the final few minutes of the game. It was a double dose of heartbreak to send Boston back home in a do or die situation without their super star. 

We are live from TD Garden 

Hello everyone and welcome to Boston where there is an air of desperation in the stadium tonight as the defending champions back to back bid lies in the balance. They have literally blown three of the four games this series, and now have to dig themselves out of a hole that not many teams in NBA history have ever been able to comeback from. The Knicks won both games in Boston and now return to TD Garden with a chance to close out the series and get back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the 1999/2000 season. Will New York close the door on the shorthanded Celtics or will Boston live to see another day? We find out in Game 5 tonight. 

Knicks vs. Celtics Game 5 live  

It’s a potential close out game from Boston, but it’s the defending champions that have their backs against the ropes. They have blown leads time and time again in this series and now they are going to have to try and survive without one of the NBA’s best players. It’s the Celtics looking to stretch the series to at least another game while the New York Knicks will be trying to land the knockout blow and dethrone the champions. AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis of tonight’s Game 5 from TD Garden.