News event: October 23, 2026 game; October 24 reporting. Original News Today article; source links appear below.
Tatum answers New York’s late push
Jayson Tatum scored 36 points as the Boston Celtics defeated the New York Knicks 107–103 at TD Garden on October 23, 2026. Boston secured its first victory of the new NBA season after New York nearly erased a fourth-quarter deficit.
Tatum added nine rebounds and seven assists, according to the NBA’s official game coverage. His biggest contributions came late, when the Knicks cut Boston’s advantage to a single point and threatened to take control.
Rather than settling for long possessions, Boston repeatedly put the ball in Tatum’s hands. His difficult late jumpers and a three-pointer helped the Celtics hold off the comeback.
How the game unfolded
Boston carried a 50–49 lead into halftime and increased its advantage in the third quarter. The Celtics entered the fourth ahead 83–73, but New York refused to let the game slip away.
The Knicks mounted a late run behind their perimeter offense and reduced the deficit to 99–98 with less than two minutes remaining. Tatum responded with crucial baskets before Payton Pritchard added a late free throw.
Paul George and Neemias Queta scored 15 points each for Boston. For New York, Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while OG Anunoby added 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Early-season implications
The win moved Boston to 1–1, while the Knicks fell to 0–2. It is far too early to draw conclusions about either team’s full season, but the result gave Boston a timely response after its opening defeat.
New York showed that it can create pressure even when trailing late. The challenge will be to translate those bursts into more consistent defensive stops and shot quality across four quarters.
For Boston, the clearest positive was the return of reliable late-game scoring from Tatum when the margin became narrow.
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