The Celtics were able to keep their wobbling season alive in Game 5 at the TD Garden on Wednesday, beating the Knicks, 127-102, to cut their series deficit to 3-2 as we move back to Madison Square Garden. That was despite missing star forward Jayson Tatum, who ruptured his Achilles tendon in Game 4 and required surgery.
In Tatum’s absence, the two players who most filled the void were Derrick White, who logged 34 points on 9-for-16 shooting, and Jaylen Brown, who put in 26 points and added 12 assists and eight rebounds in one of the best all-around postseason games of his career.
Brown explained the team’s approach after it learned that Tatum was out.
Just come out and play,” Brown said. “The air kind of left the room after hearing the news with JT —so we didn’t want to go out like that. We didn’t want to make excuses or give up or turn the season in like people would expect.
“We just said to the guys, said to each other. ‘Just come out, keep an open mind, be ready to go, guard your (expletive) off, and take it from there.’ and we were able to find a way to win tonight.”
Brown also played very good defense in Game 5, though when it came to one play, he caught the attention of one of the Knicks’ wives: Shannon Hart, the wife of wing Josh Hart.
A video of Brown fighting through a screen set by Josh Hart emerged on Wednesday, showing Brown taking an unusual action as he got past the screen. He grabbed Hart, quite deliberately, between the legs.
Shannon Hart quote-tweeted the video with a one-word response: “Weird.”
The Celtics and Knicks will meet again in Game 6 at 8 p.m. in New York, and Hart will see whether Brown keeps his hands to himself.
