(Football news) The New York Knicks made it 6 wins in a row as they beat the Boston Celtics 109-94. For the Knicks, Julius Randle and Immanuel Quickley each scored 23 points as Jalen Brunson added 17 points for them. The Knicks have a record of 36-27, who inched ahead of Brooklyn into fifth place in the Eastern Conference. For the Celtics, Malcolm Brogdon scored 22 points as they were missing All-Star Jaylen Brown due to personal reasons while Marcus Smart added 19 points but Boston missed 20 of its first 22 attempts from 3-point range and had its three-game winning streak snapped. The Boston Celtics slipped percentage points behind Milwaukee (43-17), which has won 14 straight games and now owns the NBA’s best record.
”It wasn’t our best night shooting the ball,” forward Al Horford said. ”They were the better team tonight.”
”We’re in a good place but with a lot of work to do,” Brunson said
”Obviously their record tells you how good they are and they can make up ground very quickly because of the way they shoot the 3,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. ”Their shot profile is terrific, so no lead feels safe.”
The Miami Heat rode on some brilliance from Jimmy Butler as he helped beat his former team the Philadelphia 76ers 101-99. For the Heat, Butler had 23 points as he was an assist shy of a triple-double, adding 11 rebounds and nine assists while Gabe Vincent scored 14 points and Bam Adebayo added 13 as they snapped a four-game losing streak. For the 76ers, Embiid led all scorers with 27 points and 12 rebounds as Harden finished with 20 points and 12 assists while Tyrese Maxey, who scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half before fouling out with 3:21 to play. The 76ers have lost back-to-back games for the first time since the first week of December. They look to avoid the skid in a rematch with the Heat on Wednesday in Miami.
”I work on that kind of stuff every day,” Butler said of his highlight-reel basket. ”I love to play this game and I love to compete, but it’s always much more fun when we win.”
”You have to expect things to be a little bit gnarly on the road,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. ”You have to weather a bunch of different storms. . Sometimes you just need the ball to bounce the right way. Harden had a window there and was open, but we contested so many shots tonight that sometimes when you do get an open shot you don’t have a great rhythm.”
”I just think we were really sloppy tonight, sluggish,” Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers said. ”It happens, but you still have to find a way to win the game. Tonight, we didn’t.”
Also read: NBA: Lakers rally from 30 points to win against Mavericks while Lillard drops 71 points
