Josh Hart had 26 points and Jalen Brunson added 25 points and 10 assists as the New York Knicks extended their home winning streak to six games by beating the visiting Boston Celtics 112-106 Thursday night.
Boston (54-26) was within three points, 109-106, after a Nikola Vucevic basket with 35.6 seconds left, but a Hart 3-pointer extended the lead to six points with 15.2 seconds remaining. Hart made 5 of 7 3-point attempts, including two in the final minute.
New York (52-28), which can still catch Boston and finish as high as second in the Eastern Conference standings, received 16 points and 12 rebounds from Karl-Anthony Towns.
Jayson Tatum led Boston with 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Payton Pritchard added 23 points and Baylor Scheierman finished with 20. Scheierman made 6 of 7 3-point shots.
Boston, which will play New Orleans on Friday night, didn’t have leading scorer Jaylen Brown, who sat out with left Achilles tendinitis. Brown entered Thursday’s matchup averaging 28.8 points, seven rebounds and 5.2 assists per game this season.
Each team led by as many as seven points in the opening quarter, which ended with Boston up 29-26. A 10-0 run gave New York a 33-29 lead in the second, and the Knicks were up 54-53 at halftime.
Towns made back-to-back baskets to put New York up 72-59 with 6:58 left in the third, but Pritchard capped a 9-0 run with a 3-pointer that handed Boston a 78-76 advantage. The Celtics had an 83-81 lead after three quarters.
The Celtics matched their largest lead on a Tatum three-point play that made it 92-85 with 8:22 left, but the Knicks scored the next seven points to tie the game 92-92. New York led 99-98 following a Towns 3-pointer with 4:35 remaining and had a 109-104 edge after a Hart 3-pointer with 42.9 to play.
