Jayson Tatum Scores 36 As Celtics Beat Knicks 107–103

Jayson Tatum scored 36 points, including seven of Boston’s final eight, as the Celtics held off the New York Knicks 107-103 at TD Garden on Friday, October 23, 2026. He added nine rebounds and seven assists while scoring 25 of his points in the second half.

Tatum’s two late jumpers and a 3-pointer kept New York from completing a fourth-quarter comeback. Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 22 points and 10 rebounds, OG Anunoby had 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, and reserve Miles McBride scored 20 with six 3-pointers.

Tatum’s Third Quarter Builds Boston’s Lead

Running scores explicitly show New York then Boston. Four regulation quarters; no overtime.

New York led 27-26 after the first quarter, but Boston took a 50-49 edge into halftime. Tatum had 11 points at the break before scoring 16 in the third quarter, when the Celtics outscored the Knicks 33-24.

Anunoby briefly put New York ahead 54-52 with a 3-pointer early in the third. Jordan Walsh answered from deep, Tatum made an 11-foot turnaround jumper and Derrick White hit a 3-pointer to give Boston a 60-54 lead. After Jalen Brunson responded from behind the arc, Tatum made consecutive driving layups to make it 64-57.

The Knicks kept closing the gap. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Brunson and McBride brought New York within 68-66, and another McBride 3 cut Boston’s lead to 70-69. Tatum answered with a 3-pointer at 2:55. The Celtics later got a Neemias Queta 3-pointer and closed the quarter with five Tatum points, including a driving dunk with 34.2 seconds left, for an 83-73 advantage.

Three Late Tatum Baskets Keep New York Behind

Boston’s lead reached 12 at 94-82 after Neemias Queta completed a three-point play with 8:01 remaining. Towns scored inside, and Landry Shamet followed with a jumper and a 3-pointer. Towns’s basket at 4:09 brought the Knicks within 94-91 before Tatum scored and Paul George made a 3-pointer.

Josh Hart’s 3-pointer and a Brunson basket reduced New York’s deficit to 99-98 with 1:41 left. Tatum then made a 19-foot fadeaway at 1:24 and an 18-foot jumper at 49.7 seconds for a 103-98 lead. After two Anunoby free throws, Tatum hit a 26-foot 3-pointer with 30.2 seconds remaining to make it 106-100.

McBride’s sixth 3-pointer brought New York within three with 13.9 seconds left. Payton Pritchard split two free throws at 11.2 seconds to give Boston its final point. Brunson missed both free throws with 3.6 seconds remaining, and Anunoby missed a final 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds left.

Every scoring action with 6:00 or less remaining in the fourth quarter, in original order. Running score explicitly identifies each team. This is the closing stretch, not the complete basket ledger.

Correction: The official NBA play-by-play places Tatum’s 19-foot jumper at 1:24 remaining. An earlier version listed 1:11.

Mazzulla Praises Tatum’s Balance; Brown Backs Bridges

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla emphasized Tatum’s work beyond his scoring. “That was a really well-balanced game from JT on both ends,” he said, according to Brian Martin’s NBA.com report. His assessment encompassed offense and defense rather than only Tatum’s shooting.

Knicks coach Mike Brown encouraged Mikal Bridges to keep taking the available shots. Bridges finished scoreless, missing all eight attempts, including five 3-pointers. Brown believed the looks were there: “he’s just gotta knock them down now,” NBA.com reported.

Brown also called for physical defense. “He’s got to make sure that he’s physical on the defensive end,” he said of Bridges, according to Phillip Martinez’s SNY report. Brown’s criticism extended to the team: he wanted players to fight through screens and make switches with enough contact to prevent Boston exploiting the coverage. He paired that demand with encouragement for Bridges to continue shooting.

Boston center Mitchell Robinson described watching Tatum’s late shotmaking as a teammate after previously facing him. “It was mind blowing,” Robinson said, according to NBA.com.

Postgame comments are attributed to the original written reports. Complete current coach availability recordings, exact reporter questions and verified New York player postgame comments were unavailable for this report.

McBride’s Shooting Keeps The Knicks Close

McBride made six of eight 3-pointers and both free throws in 30:05 off the bench. His 20 points matched Anunoby’s total, and his final 3-pointer kept the Knicks within a possession until Pritchard’s free throw. Shamet added eight points, including five during the fourth-quarter comeback. New York’s reserves scored 32 points.

Boston’s bench produced 35 points, led by Queta’s 15. He also had six rebounds and three blocks in 22:08. Luka Garza scored eight points in 3:30, making all three field-goal attempts, including two 3-pointers. George scored 15 as a starter, White added 12, and Pritchard supplied four assists in 30:26.

New York made one more 3-pointer than Boston, 16-15, and led in player rebounds 44-37. Boston made 40 field goals to the Knicks’ 36 and scored 38 points in the paint to New York’s 30. The Celtics also scored 19 points from turnovers, compared with the Knicks’ 12.

The official totals charged New York with 18 turnovers and Boston with 11. Those figures include two team-only turnovers for the Knicks and one for the Celtics; the individual player rows total 16 and 10. Team rebounds are also listed separately from the rebounds credited to players.

Player box totals contain 16 New York and 10 Boston turnovers. Adding team-only turnovers gives official total turnovers 18–11. Player rebounds 44–37 exclude 13 and 7 team rebounds. Bench points are 32–35.

The Shared Lineups And Their Field-Goal Results

Boston started George, Tatum, White, Robinson and Walsh. They shared 9:04.0, making 10 of 18 field-goal attempts and three of seven 3-pointers. Opponents made six of 14 field goals, including four of seven from deep, during those same stints.

New York’s starting five of Towns, Anunoby, Hart, Bridges and Brunson shared 11:27.0. They made seven of 19 field goals and three of eight 3-pointers, while opposing groups made 12 of 20 field goals and three of eight 3-pointers. A five-player group could face several opposing combinations across its separate stints.

The Knicks’ next most-used group replaced Anunoby and Bridges with Shamet and McBride. That five shared 8:21.1, shooting six of 14 from the field while opponents shot five of 19. Boston’s second most-used group paired George, White and Robinson with Pritchard and Sam Hauser for 6:33.0; the Celtics made four of seven 3-pointers during those minutes.

These comparisons use the actual substitutions and shared time across all four quarters. They describe this game’s shooting samples rather than identifying a permanent best lineup. Free throws and total unit points are excluded because those assignments could not be reconciled from the available event record. The official individual plus/minus figures in the player box scores are a separate measure.

Five most-used actual groups per club, ordered by shared time. Actual court events establish each quarter’s starting five; substitutions and fractional clocks measure shared time. The full lineup record covers 48:00 for each club. FG and 3PT show makes/attempts during each group’s shared time, against any opposing group. Unit free throws, points and net points are excluded because same-clock free-throw/substitution assignment could not be reconciled with official individual plus/minus. Small single-game samples do not establish a durable ability ranking.

Complete Player Box Scores

Tatum made 14 of 26 field goals and all five free throws in 36:43. Towns shot nine of 13, while Hart had 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals alongside his 10 points. Anunoby’s eight assists led New York; Tatum’s seven led Boston.

Open complete New York and Boston player statistics and unused-player statuses

NYK Complete Player Box Score

Player	Role	MIN	FG	FG%	3PT	3PT%	FT	FT%	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS	+/−
Josh Hart	Starter F	36:02	4/12	33.3	2/7	28.6	0/0	No attempts	3	9	12	5	3	0	0	1	10	4
OG Anunoby	Starter F	33:35	5/11	45.5	2/6	33.3	8/10	80.0	5	5	10	8	0	0	3	4	20	-11
Karl-Anthony Towns	Starter C	37:16	9/13	69.2	2/3	66.7	2/3	66.7	3	7	10	3	0	0	4	5	22	2
Mikal Bridges	Starter G	21:53	0/8	0.0	0/5	0.0	0/0	No attempts	0	1	1	4	1	0	1	3	0	-12
Jalen Brunson	Starter G	37:14	7/17	41.2	2/5	40.0	3/6	50.0	0	2	2	4	0	2	3	1	19	6
Landry Shamet	Reserve	21:12	3/6	50.0	2/5	40.0	0/0	No attempts	1	1	2	0	0	0	2	4	8	7
Miles McBride	Reserve	30:05	6/9	66.7	6/8	75.0	2/2	100.0	0	2	2	1	1	0	0	2	20	-5
Andre Drummond	Reserve	7:06	1/2	50.0	0/0	No attempts	0/0	No attempts	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	-8
Jose Alvarado	Reserve	10:46	1/2	50.0	0/1	0.0	0/0	No attempts	0	2	2	2	1	0	3	0	2	-10
Jordan Clarkson	Reserve	2:48	0/0	No attempts	0/0	No attempts	0/0	No attempts	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
James Wiseman	Reserve	2:04	0/0	No attempts	0/0	No attempts	0/0	No attempts	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4

All 11 participants. Source position labels identify the five starters; remaining participants are reserves. Official individual minutes round to whole seconds. No attempts is not a zero shooting percentage. Unused/DNP/inactive players are listed separately.

BOS Complete Player Box Score

Player	Role	MIN	FG	FG%	3PT	3PT%	FT	FT%	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS	+/−
Paul George	Starter F	33:39	6/15	40.0	3/7	42.9	0/0	No attempts	0	7	7	2	2	0	1	4	15	1
Jayson Tatum	Starter F	36:43	14/26	53.8	3/10	30.0	5/5	100.0	1	8	9	7	3	0	2	2	36	1
Mitchell Robinson	Starter C	22:25	2/4	50.0	0/0	No attempts	0/0	No attempts	2	2	4	2	0	1	0	5	4	-2
Jordan Walsh	Starter G	20:17	2/5	40.0	1/2	50.0	0/0	No attempts	1	2	3	0	0	0	1	2	5	1
Derrick White	Starter G	33:28	5/11	45.5	2/6	33.3	0/0	No attempts	1	3	4	6	1	0	1	2	12	-4
Neemias Queta	Reserve	22:08	4/8	50.0	1/1	100.0	6/9	66.7	4	2	6	1	0	3	2	4	15	-1
Payton Pritchard	Reserve	30:26	1/5	20.0	1/3	33.3	1/2	50.0	0	1	1	4	0	0	2	1	4	8
Hugo González	Reserve	3:35	0/1	0.0	0/1	0.0	0/0	No attempts	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	-2
Sam Hauser	Reserve	22:41	2/5	40.0	2/5	40.0	0/0	No attempts	0	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	6	8
Baylor Scheierman	Reserve	11:08	1/4	25.0	0/2	0.0	0/0	No attempts	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	2	4
Luka Garza	Reserve	3:30	3/3	100.0	2/2	100.0	0/0	No attempts	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	8	6

All 11 participants. Source position labels identify the five starters; remaining participants are reserves. Official individual minutes round to whole seconds. No attempts is not a zero shooting percentage. Unused/DNP/inactive players are listed separately.

Unused And Inactive Players

Team	Player	Official status
NYK	Jaden Akins	Inactive – Coach's Decision
NYK	Pacôme Dadiet	DNP – Coach's Decision
NYK	Mohamed Diawara	DNP – Coach's Decision
NYK	Tyler Kolek	DNP – Coach's Decision
NYK	Kevin McCullar Jr.	Inactive – Coach's Decision
NYK	Tyler Nickel	Inactive – Coach's Decision
BOS	Devin Carter	Inactive – Injury/Illness
BOS	Chris Cenac Jr.	DNP – Coach's Decision
BOS	Mike Conley	DNP – Coach's Decision
BOS	Ron Harper Jr.	DNP – Coach's Decision
BOS	Dillon Mitchell	Inactive – Coach's Decision
BOS	Amari Williams	Inactive – Coach's Decision

Exact official game-day status text. These players did not participate; no minutes or statistical zero has been invented.

MIN = minutes; FG = field goals; 3PT = 3-pointers; FT = free throws; OREB/DREB/REB = offensive/defensive/total rebounds; AST = assists; STL = steals; BLK = blocks; TO = player turnovers; PF = personal fouls; PTS = points; +/− = official individual plus/minus; DNP = did not play. Shooting percentages with no attempts are not treated as zero. Individual minutes are rounded to whole seconds; New York’s displayed player minutes sum to 240:01 because of rounding.

Next: Orlando Visits New York, Chicago Visits Boston

The Knicks host the Orlando Magic at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, October 25, at 5 p.m. MDT. The Celtics host the Chicago Bulls at TD Garden on Monday, October 26, at 5:30 p.m. MDT.

The unused-player table preserves the official game-day designations, including Boston’s Devin Carter being inactive for injury or illness. It does not establish availability for either team’s next game.

Official Highlights And Game Records

Official NBA videos: Celtics 107, Knicks 103 game recap · Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks – 3rd Quarter Highlights · Miles McBride gets the 3 to fall · Mitchell Robinson slams home the alley-oop. These links open the original NBA video pages.

Official NBA game records: Complete box score · Complete play-by-play and scoring progression. Written postgame sources are linked with their reported comments above.