BOSTON – Take your time with that sore left foot, Jalen Brunson.
Immanuel Quickley has everything under control.
Without the injured Brunson, the third-year guard carried the Knicks into crisis on Sunday.
His career-high 38 points in an exhausting 55 minutes led coach Tom Thibodeau’s team to another dramatic win, a 131-129 double victory over the Celtics at TD Garden that sent the Knicks to their NBA-leading ninth consecutive victory.
With Julius Randle clearly out of gas, Quickley scored seven points in the second overtime and the Knicks won when Al Horford’s three-pointer failed at the buzzer.
With the win, the sweltering Knicks (39-27) tied the Celtics for most road wins in the NBA (20), moving back within a game of the fourth-place Cavaliers.
Randle had 31 points, nine rebounds and four assists, RJ Barrett added 29 points and 11 rebounds, and Mitchell Robinson had 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Jayson Tatum scored 40 for the Celtics, but only made 12 of 30 shots from the field.
Jaylen Brown chipped 29.
Quickley scored the first five points of the second OT, giving the Knicks a much-needed cushion.
Two Josh Hart free throws with 1:21 left made it a five-point game.
But after a 24-second offense and consecutive Tatum drives, the Celtics had the ball, two down and 10.2 seconds left.
On 11 after a stunning 30-7 run that bridged the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, the Knicks returned the lead.
A scoreless stretch of 3:36 enabled the Celtics to go on a 13–2 run and tie on 102 on Brown’s three-point play with 4:09 left.
Quickley gave the Knicks the lead with a baby jumper in lane and Hart followed with a driving layup. Boston came within one point on Marcus Smart’s three-pointer on two offensive rebounds with 18.7 seconds remaining.
After Randle calmly sank two free throws, Brown converted a three-point tie and unseated Randle on the other end to force overtime.
In the first extra session, Horford’s 3-pointer with 29.2 seconds remaining gave the Celtics the lead.
Quickley tied the other side with 12.9 to go and Tatum missed a running runner in the lane as time expired.
The Knicks had a four-point lead late in the first half when Robinson picked up his third foul.
Thibodeau chose to go small, centered on Randle, and he paid for it.
The Celtics cashed in the last 11 points of the half, five of them coming on offensive rebounds.
It was the story of the first 24 minutes, Boston crushing the Knicks on the glass with 11 offensive rebounds and 18 rebound points, turning 10 turnovers into 14 quick break points.
The little things they had done so well eluded them.
Without Brunson, Barrett was more involved.
He started well, hitting five of his first six shots and had a team-high 16 points at the break.
Randle came off his 43-point burst against the Heat to score 14.
The Knicks had no answer to the two Celtics stars, Tatum and Brown.
The duo scored a combined 36 points in the first half on 12 of 23 shootings. Tatum had 19—five more than he collected the last time the Knicks and Celtics played each other.
The halftime didn’t deter the Celtics.
They built on their momentum and quickly pushed the lead into double digits.
After Smart lured Randle into an offensive foul, he crashed into the umpire while arguing and received a technical foul.
A few possessions later, Smart sank a three-pointer to take the lead to 13.
The Celtics led by as many as 14, and the winning streak looked about to end.
But the Knicks reacted as they have on this run.
They ended the quarter with an 18-5 run to advance on a Randle three-pointer to the right corner near the horn – from the exact same spot as his game-winner in Miami.
Quickley scored eight points in the burst and had two steals, shocking the Knicks.
He went on to start the fourth, hit another 3-pointer and put up a Barrett triple as the Knicks were suddenly up nine with 9:04 left.
