The Knicks were the bullies on the glass Monday night.
After getting outrebounded for much of the series, they owned the boards in Game 4.
In their 121-113 victory over the defending champion Celtics, the Knicks were plus-12 and limited Boston to a series-low seven offensive rebounds.
The Knicks turned 13 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points themselves. Mitchell Robinson was a key part of that, grabbing five offensive boards in his 25 minutes.
“When you’re playing against him, you understand what he brings to the team, and when you’re playing as one of his teammates, you see even more the magnitude, the impact he has on the game,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “He was just special tonight, doing everything we needed him to do.”
Towns was key on the glass as well, bringing down a team-high 11 rebounds. Eight of those were defensive boards. Several Knicks came up big in that category. Josh Hart had seven defensive rebounds and Mikal Bridges tallied six.
“They’re the defending champions, they have some of the most talented players in the NBA,” Towns said. “You got to make sure they only get one chance at a shot. [We were] trying to make sure they don’t get second-chance points.”
The Celtics wound up with only nine second-chance points, their fewest in the series.
OG Anunoby left the court late in the first quarter and went to the locker room.
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His hamstring was bothering him. He wound up scoring 20 points in 40 minutes.
Afterward, he said the hamstring felt “weird,” but he was fine.
Jalen Brunson has scored 30 points in 17 playoff games as a Knick, one shy of Patrick Ewing’s franchise record of 18.
He also became the ninth Knick to reach 1,000 playoff points.
After hitting 32 3-pointers on 64 attempts in the last six quarters of the series, the Celtics went 6-for-24 from deep in the second half. … Celtics reserve forward Sam Hauser (sprained right ankle) remained out. It was the third straight game he has missed.
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