Josh Hart Carries Knicks to Thrilla Win. NY 112 Boston 106

April 10, 2026 LouV 2025-26 0
Josh Hart hit 2 CLUTCH 3's in final minute, and scored 26 pts on 10-15 shooting (5-7 from 3) overall, with heady defense to carry the Knicks to the win. Photo courtesy NY Knicks.

Josh Hart hit two CLUTCH 3’s in the final minute, and scored 26 pts on 10-15 shooting (and 5-7 from 3) overall with tremendous Defense to carry the Knicks to a thrilling 112-106 win over the Celtics at Madison Square Garden on a Thursday night.

The win puts the Knicks 1 win away from clinching 3rd place in the East over red-hot Cleveland with 2 games remaining.

NY looked in playoff form and took control of the game in the 3rd quarter — building a 12-pt lead — only to have Boston come right back on sharpshooting from 3 by Baylor Scheierman (6-7 from 3 for 20 pts), Payton Pritchard (23 pts), Nikola Vucevic (10 pts), and Jayson Tatum (24 pts).

The 4th was a slugfest — with the Knicks re-taking control and winning it down the stretch.

Everyone on the Knicks excelled — even Mikal Bridges (10 pts on 4-4 shooting and good defense). Jalen Brunson (25 pts on 10-19 shooting, 2-7 from 3) made Clutch shots and Clutch passes down the stretch; Karl-Anthony Towns (16 pts, 12 rebounds, 4 assists) scored inside, ripped down rebounds, and hit clutch 3’s, and OG Anunoby (13 pts) played phenomenal Defense on Jayson Tatum (Tatum was 7-22 from the floor and 2-11 from 3).

Mitchell Robinson (7 pts, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and a block) was amazing off the bench — not only rebounding and powering inside for alley-oop dunks — but stealing the ball, diving on the floor for loose balls, and hitting a free throw. Jordan Clarkson (8 pts on 4-7 shooting) was terrific too — not only scoring but grabbing offensive rebounds and playing heady defense, as did Landry Shamet and Miles McBride.

“They’re a good team,” said coach Mike Brown afterwards. “It’s well coached. They’ve been in a lot of big moments, we knew they weren’t going to go away. We knew they were going to go on a run; I was hoping it wouldn’t be that big! But give our guys credit — they went on a run; we just held steady, we didn’t panic and we just kept trying to chip away at it until we felt like we got in control of the game.”

“That’s what this game is about,” continued Brown. “A lot of times it’s a make or miss league. Scheierman got hot — he hit a couple of 3’s that gave them all confidence. We tried a couple of different things to try to keep the ball out of the paint. They’re a good team; they moved the basketball; they found each other and guys stepped up and knocked down shots. Scheierman was 6 for 7, Vuch was 2 for 4, Payton was 2 for 8. They had guys with open looks and they knocked them down so you have to give them credit.”

NY improves to 52-28, a game ahead of Cleveland — but NY owns the tiebreaker so the Knicks need 1 more win with 2 games left to clinch 3rd place. NY is 2 behind Boston, who fall to 54-26. NY also owns the tiebreaker there.

1. Close Game Early

It was a huge game for the Knicks, coming in just .5 game ahead of Cleveland for 3rd place with 3 games left — and an important game for Boston — looking to assert dominance over NY after the Knicks ousted them from last year’s playoffs. Boston’s star guard Jaylen Brown has publicly stated that Boston is seeking to “spin the block” on the Knicks to make up for last year. Brown was out for this game due to left Achilles tendinitis.

It was a close, back-and-forth game early — with Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Neemias Queta getting buckets for Boston while Mikal Bridges got NY’s first 7 pts, and then was joined by 4 straight points by OG Anunoby.

Payton Pritchard ran off 6 straight pts for Boston late in the quarter, and Baylor Scheierman hit his first 3 of the night — but Josh Hart, Landry Shamet, and Jalen Brunson answered — Brunson with a 3 near the buzzer to give NY a 29-26 lead after 1.

2. Robinson Amazing; NY Up 54-53 at Half

Mitchell Robinson Dominated early in the 2nd quarter — starting the period with an alley oop dunk off a Jordan Clarkson pass, then scoring inside off an OG pass — after OG himself hit a 3 — to give NY a 33-29 lead.

In one of the plays of the game, Mitch stole the ball, dove on the floor to retrieve it, and fed McBride who fed Jordan Clarkson for a layup and 35-31 Knick lead.

The game went back and forth — as KAT, Brunson, OG, and Hart led a distributed NY attack — Brunson again made a bucket near the end of the quarter to give the Knicks a 54-53 lead at the half.

3. Knicks Go Up by 12 in 3rd; Boston Hits 3’s to Re-Take Lead

Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart again hit 4 consecutive 3’s to start the 3rd quarter and NY went up 66-57.

Another Hart bucket and a drive inside by Towns off an offensive rebound put NY up by 11 at 70-59.

Towns again powered inside next time down and NY was up 72-59 with 7:12 left in the 3rd, and in control. Boston timeout.

But if you went outside to walk the dogs and came back in — you would have missed Boston hitting 3 after 3 to regain the lead in minutes. Tatum hit a 3, Vucevic hit a 3, Payton Pritchard hit a 3, Scheierman hit a 3, Vukovic hit another 3, and Pritchard hit another 3 and Boston was up 78-76.

Baylor Scheierman hit another 3 and Boston went up by 4 at 83-79.

Baylor Scheierman was a late 1st round pick by Boston in 2024 — #30 overall out of Creighton. He is averaging 18 minutes a game this year and shooting .456 from 3.

Brunson and Mitchell Robinson restored order for NY — Mitch with an alley oop dunk off a Brunson pass, and Brunson with a couple of drives and floaters, Mitch hitting 1 of 2 free throws after being purposely fouled, and Brunson once again getting the last bucket of the period — this time a floater with 12 seconds left to make it an 83-81 game Boston.

Miles McBride played Great defense on Pritchard to end the quarter, with Pritchard driving but McBride knocking the ball away and Pritchard unable to get up a last shot.

4. Scheierman Keeps Hitting 3’s as Boston Takes Lead in 4th

And then to the 4th — and Baylor Scheierman just kept hitting 3’s — and Jayson Tatum hit one too as Boston pulled out to an 89-83 lead.

Jordan Clarkson got buckets for NY and was playing a heady defense as well. Josh Hart was hitting 3’s and scoring on his patented drives in traffic.

Karl-Anthony Towns got cooking, scoring inside and then hitting a HUGE open 3 to put NY up 99-98 with 4:25 left.

But Scheierman would not stop — hitting 2 more 3’s — the later one giving Boston a 104-103 lead with 2:19 left.

5. Hart & Brunson Huge as Knicks Take Game in Last Few Minutes

Down the stretch it was the old Villanova duo — Brunson and Hart — orchestrating and scoring to take it for NY.

Brunson WHIPPED a pass to Hart underneath for a bucket and 105-104 Knick lead with 1:51 left.

“Jalen Brunson won at all levels and it’s no accident,” noted NBA Analyst Ross Kreines. “Rather it’s his will to win, use of his great fundamentals, skillset and leadership! You saw it at crunch time and it wasn’t just his ability to score the ball it was also he made the right pass, the right play at the right time.”

KAT defended Tatum on a drive, causing him to miss a layup, and Brunson was fouled down the other end — hitting 1 of 2 free throws for a 106-104 Knick lead.

The Knicks forced Derrick White into a miss of a 3 — Mikal Bridges snatching the rebound and feeding up court. NY worked the ball and found Josh Hart who knocked down a CLUTCH open 3 for a 109-104 Knick lead with 42 seconds left.

Pritchard missed a 3 down the other end, but Vocevic scored off an offensive rebound to pull Boston back within 109-106 with 35 seconds left.

And then NY worked the ball, and found Josh Hart — who hit ANOTHER CLUTCH 3 to put NY up 112-106 with 15 seconds left and ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401811023

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