The Knicks completed their largest comeback in 17 years with a circus buzzer-beater by RJ Barrett, shocking the Celtics with a 108-105 victory at The Garden.
After erasing a 25-point deficit, New York held onto a one-point lead in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter when Boston intentionally fouled Julius Randle, who missed the first free throw before making the second to put the Knicks ahead by two. Jayson Tatum found some separation from RJ Barrett on the other end and sank a fadeaway jumper with 1.5 seconds left, making it highly likely that the two teams would battle into overtime, much like they did in a wild season opener.
Instead, Barrett grabbed an inbounds pass out of a Knicks timeout and hurled up a tightly contested 3-pointer, banking it home as tired expired to ignite The Garden in celebration of the franchise’s first buzzer-beating victory since J.R. Smith took down the Suns in 2012.
Heading into Thursday’s game, the Knicks were 1-229 when trailing by 25 points or more over the last quarter century, with the lone win coming against the Bucks in 2004, when they trailed by as many as 26. But New York stormed back on Thursday behind Evan Fournier, who continued his dismantling of Boston this season by pouring in 10 3-pointers, tying Smith for the Knicks franchise record. Those 10 3-pointers were a career-high, as was his 41 points.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1