JAYLEN Brown chalked up a season-high 42 points, punctuating the night with a breakaway dunk in the final seconds as the Boston Celtics beat the New York Knicks 123-117 on Tuesday (Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, PH time) in a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference semifinal.
According to the Associated Press (AP), Derrick White added 22 points, including seven in the final four minutes, helping Boston withstand a late Knicks surge that trimmed a 15-point deficit to 102-99. Rookie Jordan Walsh contributed six points and five rebounds in the fourth quarter.
Mikal Bridges led New York with 35 points — 17 of them in the fourth — and shot 8 of 12 from three-point range. Karl-Anthony Towns added 29 for the Knicks, who had won four straight, the AP reported.
Boston has now won four of its last five, with victories over four of the top six teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Knicks opened the game on a 17-4 run and held a 39-25 lead before the Celtics answered with 12 straight points. A later seven-point burst put Boston ahead 47-46 on a Brown dunk that energized the crowd. Brown poured in 18 points in the second quarter and 15 more in the third.
The Celtics led by 18 entering the fourth and were up 102-87 with eight minutes left before Bridges fueled a 12-0 run with a three-pointer, three free throws and another trey to cut the lead to three.
Josh Minott nailed a triple and Walsh followed with consecutive putbacks to push Boston’s lead back to eight. Bridges hit another trey to pull New York within four with 46 seconds remaining, but his next attempt — which could have cut the deficit to one — missed.
In other games, the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Washington Wizards 121-102, Toronto Raptors edged Portland Trail Blazers 121-118, San Antonio Spurs topped Memphis Grizzlies 126-119, Minnesota outlasted New Orleans 149-142 in overtime and Oklahoma City held off Golden State 124-112. / LBG