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The Knicks and the Celtics could not have seemed more separated when they met in Boston to open the season.
After the Celtics received their championship rings that October night, they buried the retooled Knicks under a record-tying avalanche of 29 made 3-pointers.
More than half a season later, the improved Knicks were unable to exact any payback — or to pull even in the loss column with the second-seeded Celtics in the Eastern Conference standings — Saturday night with a sloppy, deflating 131-104 loss to Boston before a disappointed crowd at the Garden.
“I mean, I said [Friday] that playing them, it’s always to see where we are. We see where we are,” a dejected Jalen Brunson said. “Not where we want to be. Today as a whole was unacceptable.”
Brunson scored a team-best 36 points, but the Knicks fell to 34-18 overall, with forward OG Anunoby missing his third straight game due to a sprained right foot.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart, who both had landed on the injury report before the game with nagging knee issues, and fellow starter Mikal Bridges, had largely ineffective games as the Knicks were outrebounded 28-18 in the first half and a whopping 48-30 overall.
Towns managed a season-low nine points on 3-for-8 shooting in 28 minutes, while Hart finished minus-31 with three turnovers in 38 minutes.
“We know we’ve got a lot of work to do. Simple as that,” Towns said. “There’s no sugarcoating. There’s no moral wins, nothing like that. It’s something we’ve got to work on if we expect to beat a team that y’all have expectations of us to compete for and be.
“If we also have those same aspirations in this locker room, which I know we do, we’ve got to find a way to beat teams like tonight. That’s a team that is in the race. They want to be in the race as much as we do to win a championship. And for them, it’s another one, a back-to-back. Championship teams, great teams, in my experience, they test your discipline. Something that we’ve got to work on, our discipline for 48.”
Unstoppable All-Star Jayson Tatum buried seven 3-pointers and netted a game-high 40 points while Payton Pritchard contributed 25 off the bench for the Celtics (37-16), who played without starters Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Jrue Holiday (shoulder).
The end result wasn’t much different from Opening Night, when the Celtics held a banner-raising ceremony at TD Garden followed by a 132-109 thrashing of the Knicks on Oct. 22, with the 29 Boston 3-pointers spoiling the Knicks debuts of Towns and Bridges.
Tatum scored the first five points of Saturday’s game on a driving dunk and Boston’s first of 19 3-pointers, while the Knicks clanked their first 10 shots to trail 12-2 before five minutes had elapsed.
Bridges (11 points 5-for-15) finally nailed a short jumper for the Knicks’ first field goal with 6:56 to go in the quarter, but another Tatum trey helped push the Celtics cushion to 17 late in the period.
The Knicks converted just six of 23 shots in the opening 12 minutes, and they trailed 30-19 entering the second quarter.
Even with Brunson’s 18 first-half points — including 11-for-11 from the free-throw line — Tatum managed 16 for the Celtics, and the Knicks still were behind by 13 (61-48) at intermission.
Still, the Knicks initially responded after coach Tom Thibodeau went with Miles McBride in place of Precious Achiuwa to open the second half.
Brunson pumped in eight points, Towns threw down a one-handed stuff, and Bridges knocked down a right-side 3 during a 19-9 Knicks spurt to open the third to close to within three.
But the Celtics managed 19 of the next 22 points, including three free throws after a McBride foul and two 3-pointers by Derrick White (17 points) to enter the final period with a 96-76 advantage.
“The rebounding was problematic to start. It was problematic throughout,” Thibodeau said. “We got into a big hole at the start and then fought back and had a chance to get back into it but obviously fell short.
“You learn from every game, but the disappointment of a loss, but make sure we learn from it. Obviously, we have to take a hard look and get better.”
