Kristaps Porzingis Quiet as Celtics Rout Knicks Without Kyrie Irving
The Boston Celtics have found their stride again and didn't even need Kyrie Irving on Wednesday.
Boston beat Kristaps Porzingis and the New York Knicks at TD Garden, 103-73, and is now 3-1 in its last four after a four-game losing streak. As a result, it extended its advantage over the Toronto Raptors in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference to 1.5 games.
Terry Rozier (17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists), Al Horford (14 points, nine rebounds and five assists) and Marcus Morris (20 points and five boards) led the way, picking up the slack after the Celtics announced Irving was out with a right quadriceps contusion.
The Celtics stuck to a familiar formula Wednesday considering they are No. 1 in the league in defensive rating, per NBA.com. They are accustomed to low-scoring games where they smother the opponent's best playmakers, as they did in the last matchup with New York when they held Porzingis to one point on 0-of-11 shooting from the field.
Porzingis was better this time around (16 points on 7-of-18 shooting), but New York as a whole couldn't generate many clean looks against Boston's swarming defense.
It shot a mere 32.2 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from deep while turning it over 14 times. Enes Kanter was a primary culprit with five of those turnovers, but he at least made up for it with 17 points and 17 boards in the losing effort.
Capping things off, the visitors scored a mere eight points in the fourth quarter.
On the other end, a Celtics offense that has struggled to consistently score for stretches this season (No. 18 in offensive rating, per NBA.com) was facing an uphill battle with its primary option in Irving out.
What's more, Marcus Smart was also sidelined because of a hand injury.
Rozier earned his first career start in the face of the backcourt attrition and responded with a dominant first quarter, pouring in 11 points and drilling his first three three-pointers on his way to rave reviews on Twitter:
Rozier's scoring slowed throughout the game, but he still battled for boards from his guard spot, dictated the pace of the offense with his ball-handling and timely passing and helped make up for the loss of Smart on defense by challenging perimeter shooters.
Horford also proved critical in filling the injury void by stuffing the stat sheet like he has all season. The All-Star leads the Celtics in assists per game and frequently serves as a facilitator from the high elbow even when Irving is on the floor.
That didn't change Wednesday, as he willingly dished to teammates when the Knicks collapsed, tussled with Porzingis and Kanter for boards and demonstrated his soft touch on the outside and around the rim as a scorer when needed.
Still, neither Horford nor Rozier fired up the crowd like Jaylen Brown (14 points) when he posterized Porzingis:
It wasn't all good news for the Celtics, as Morris was involved in a scary moment in the final minute of the third quarter. He landed hard on his hip following a dunk after inadvertent contact from a challenging Michael Beasley.
The Celtics announced he wouldn't return with a bruised left hip, but there was no need to risk further injury as the home team buried the Knicks in the fourth during an 18-0 run.
Boston will look to continue its solid stretch Friday against the Atlanta Hawks, while the Knicks turn their attention to a matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks on the same day.
