The Knicks remain alive in the race for the No. seed. 2 in the East, beat the Celtics in Tatum’s return to MSG

NEW YORK (AP) — Josh Hart scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, Jalen Brunson had 25 points and 10 assists, and the New York Knicks stayed alive in the race for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 112-106 victory over Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.

Tatum finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in his first game on the court at Madison Square Garden where he ruptured his Achilles tendon in last season’s playoffs.

Announcement

The Knicks (52-28) moved to within two games of the Celtics (54-26) for second place with two games left to play for both teams. New York owns the tiebreaker after winning the season series 3-1 and would take the No. 1 seed. 2 with two wins and two losses in Boston.

Hart made two 3-pointers in the final 42 seconds to give New York more wins this season under Mike Brown than last season’s 51-31 victory in Tom Thibodeau’s final season.

The Knicks then eliminated the Celtics in the second round of that playoffs, aided by Tatum’s season-ending injury in Game 4 of the series. He acknowledged some nervousness and anxiety Thursday before playing in the arena again before finishing just short of his second triple-double since returning to play last month.

The Celtics had their four-game winning streak snapped while playing without leading scorer Jaylen Brown, who averaged 28.8 points, due to tendonitis in his left Achilles tendon.

Announcement

Payton Pritchard added 23 points and Baylor Scheierman had 20, going 6 of 7 from 3-point range.

The Knicks will host Toronto on Friday in a possible playoff preview and close out against Charlotte on Sunday. Boston hosts New Orleans on Friday and Orlando on Sunday.

Next

Celtics: Host New Orleans on Friday.

Knicks: Host Toronto on Friday.

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