The Knicks could have played it safe against Boston – instead they sent a message the rest of the East will not ignore

It was no time for caution, no time to start calculating, they must have thought in New York. They had a chance to choose with one eye on the conference semifinals: face the Celtics or the Pistons? Finish third or fourth? Now they lead the fourth-place Cavaliers by one win, but only because they beat Boston 112-106 on Thursday night. Had they lost, they would be level with Cleveland.

A hypothetical loss to the Celtics would not have surprised anyone. After all, Boston is one of the hottest teams at the end of the regular season. But the Knicks did not care about any of that. And although they can still finish fourth, they can now also end up second thanks to this result.

It will not be easy. They need to win their final two games, against Toronto and Charlotte, and they need the Celtics to lose both of theirs, against New Orleans and Orlando. Put like that, it sounds almost impossible, but at least they have left that door open. They chose to compete and fight until the end, and that deserves credit.

The game, which Jaylen Brown missed as he continues to deal with tendinitis, also marked Jayson Tatum’s return to the scene of the crime – the court where, almost a year ago, he tore his Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Knicks were already in control of that series when the injury became the final nail in the coffin for Boston.

Tatum said after the game that he felt somewhat nervous and anxious about returning to Madison Square Garden, though it did not show during the game. The forward came close to posting his second triple-double of the season, finishing with 24 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists. Alongside him, the standout performers were Payton Pritchard, with 23 points, and Baylor Scheierman, with 20 points while shooting 6 for 7 from three-point range. Hugo González did not play a single minute for the second straight game.

For the home team, the hero was Josh Hart. The hard-nosed wing finished as the leading scorer with 26 points, 14 of them in the fourth quarter, including two three-pointers in the final 42 seconds. Jalen Brunson, with 25 points and 10 assists, was also crucial as the Knicks sent one final warning shot to one of their biggest postseason rivals.

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