Jayson Tatum, Celtics Celebrated by NBA Fans After Win vs. Knicks Without RJ Barrett

The Boston Celtics lost three of four games to the New York Knicks last season, but they have already made sure things will go differently in 2023-24.

Boston improved to 2-0 against their Eastern Conference rival this season with a 114-98 victory on Monday at TD Garden. It was the third win in a row for the Celtics, who are now 8-2 on the campaign.

New York, which was without RJ Barrett because of a migraine, saw its own three-game winning streak come to an end as it fell to 5-5.

In the first game of the season, the Knicks had no answers for Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porziņģis as they each reached the 30-point mark. It was more of the same this time around with Tatum posting 35 points, seven assists and six rebounds while Porziņģis went for 21 points and six boards against his former team.

Jaylen Brown also played well with 22 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Sam Hauser provided a spark off the bench with 12 points behind 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range.

Social media had plenty of praise for the performance:

New York did its best to compete against one of the league's top teams without Barrett and was in control for extended stretches of the first half. However, a three-pointer at the buzzer from Brown gave the home team plenty of momentum going into the half.

From there, Boston extended the lead to double digits in the second half and seemingly had an answer every time the Knicks threatened. Even when Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson made back-to-back triples to cut the deficit to three in the fourth quarter, Tatum responded with a four-point play to create some more breathing room.

Tatum took over from there with a scoring spurt to put the game away.

New York simply couldn't match the Celtics' star power in the most important moments, which is a problem many of Boston's opponents have run into this season.

The Celtics will look to keep things rolling when they hit the road to face the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday in a potential Eastern Conference playoff preview. New York is also on the road the same day when it faces the Atlanta Hawks.