NY KNICKS Historic Opener 2nd OT versus Boston Celtics NBA 2022 Season NBA Opening Night NY Knicks
12NEW YORK -- When the Knicks took a four-point lead with nine seconds to go in Wednesday night's season opener against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden, it appeared the home team was on the verge of a feel-good win to start Kemba Walker's Knicks career.
It turned out the Knicks were, in fact, going to win the game; it just wasn't in the way anyone could have envisioned.
After a wild final nine seconds of regulation, which included the Celtics hitting two 3-pointers in the last five ticks of the clock to tie the score, plus a pair of frenetic overtimes, New York emerged with a 138-134 victory, snatching a win from the jaws of what would've been an excruciating season-opening defeat.
"The good thing at the end of the day is we got the win," Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Getting it, though, took a lot more work for New York than it initially appeared.
The trouble started after the other former Celtic starting in the Knicks' backcourt, Evan Fournier, got free for a layup to push New York's lead to 114-110 with nine seconds to go, sending the partisan fans inside MSG into a celebratory frenzy in anticipation of a win.
But then Jaylen Brown, who finished with 46 points, buried a 28-foot 3-pointer to pull the Celtics to within a point. After Julius Randle hit a pair of free throws to push the Knicks' lead back to 116-113 with 4.9 seconds to go -- and with Boston not having any timeouts -- the plan was for the Knicks to foul.
"We had a play where we wanted to catch Jayson [Tatum] moving on the run," Ime Udoka, coaching his first regular-season game for Boston, said afterward of the Celtics' plan.
The strategy went awry, however, after Tatum grabbed the inbounds pass, slipped and fell. Instead of grabbing him, the Knicks players froze, allowing Tatum to get up and fire a pass to a wide-open Dennis Schroder in the middle of the court. With everyone then scrambling to catch up, Schroder dribbled into the frontcourt, drew Walker toward him and swung a pass to Marcus Smart, who buried the game-tying 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded, leaving the building in shocked silence and sending the game to overtime.
"I just tried to get it up, and I slipped," Tatum said. "And then I saw [Fournier] came and doubled, threw it to Dennis, and he found a wide-open Smart. He knocked it down and gave us a chance."
From there, the teams spent the next 10 minutes of action looking like exhausted heavyweight fighters trying to make it through the final rounds of a championship bout. After each scored 12 points in the first two minutes of the first overtime, they combined to miss all 10 shots they took while going scoreless during the rest of it. That included an ugly miss by Tatum after he held the ball for a final shot.
Tatum finished 7-for-30 from the field and 2-for-15 from 3-point range.
"Sometimes you've gotta laugh at yourself," Tatum said of his ugly shooting performance, shaking his head. "I guess I'm good for one of those a season.
"Hopefully, that's the last one. Get it out the way. We've got 81 more."
The second overtime then devolved into a true slog, with each team only scoring once over the opening three minutes. But after Tatum pushed Boston into the lead with a nifty drive and an and-1 finger roll, the Knicks responded with a Fournier 3-pointer and a floater by Derrick Rose on back-to-back possessions in the final minute, providing New York's final margin of victory.
"It was crazy," Fournier, who finished with 32 points, said with a smile. "The atmosphere, the fans, the game itself -- it was fun to go to OT, but I wish we had killed that game in the first 48 minutes.
"But it was a dogfight, really, especially toward the end. I'm sure you guys could see we were both tired."
The wildness of the ending overshadowed the original reason Wednesday night's game was significant: It was Walker's debut as a Knick. The Bronx native with a certified legendary New York City basketball background -- between his time at Harlem's Rice High School and his exploits at the University of Connecticut in this arena -- said he couldn't believe he was hearing his name being called during pregame introductions.
Why this homecoming is different for Kemba Walker and the New York Knicks
"My guys, my hometown team, the Knicks, they believed in me," Walker said. "And I'm here now. Whatever happened in the past is irrelevant at this point."
The past isn't exactly irrelevant, of course. The Knicks never would have dreamed that when Walker signed as a max free agent with Boston two years ago that they would sign him for less than $10 million per season a couple of years later.
"He was being judged [in Boston] by being a max player when he isn't anymore," said one Eastern Conference scout. "In a vacuum, as a ball player, it wasn't representative.
"But on the Knicks, he's a perfect fit." #privateryanG #youtubegaming #movies
Other Videos By Private Ryan Gameplays
Other Statistics
NBA 2K22 Statistics For Private Ryan Gameplays
At this time, Private Ryan Gameplays has 43,344 views for NBA 2K22 spread across 57 videos. His channel published over 1 day worth of content for the game, or 12.57% of the total watchable video for NBA 2K22 on Private Ryan Gameplays's YouTube channel.