Maybe Tom Thibodeau was helping his old team after all.
His recent visit with the Celtics, when he broke down how the Knicks beat them last spring, didn’t do much good.
In fact, in the first meeting between the two teams since the Knicks sent Boston home last May, not much changed.
The Celtics still don’t have Jayson Tatum, and without the injured superstar, they didn’t stand much of a chance in that Game 6 Eastern Conference semifinal clincher, or on Friday night.
The Knicks overcame a sleepy first quarter to cruise past the Celtics 105-95 at the Garden, improving to 2-0 with new coach Mike Brown on the young season.
At the morning shootaround, Jaylen Brown said he was looking forward to returning to MSG.
“Tonight should be a fun one,” the All-Star wing said.
It was for the home team and their fans.
Similar to the season-opening win over the Cavaliers, the Knicks exhibited offensive balance and a beefed-up bench. Jalen Brunson led them with 31 points and five assists, Karl-Anthony Towns added 26 points, 13 rebounds and three assists and Mikal Bridges chipped in 12 points. Tyler Kolek (four assists) and Josh Hart (14 rebounds, three assists) provided a spark on the second unit.
The Knicks trailed by eight after the first quarter, then flipped a switch, ripping off a 42-14 second quarter that ended with them up 20.
Eight Knicks players scored and they had 10 assists on 12 made baskets. The second unit had a big hand in it, and when the starters checked in, they continued the onslaught.
“It shows we came back ready to play,” Brunson said. “We didn’t finish the first quarter strong, and then our bench really sparked us. To come back in there and contribute to that, it was a really good feeling.”
It began with an 11-0 run that at one point was extended into a 28-6 burst. They hit six 3-pointers in the period — OG Anunoby and Jordan Clarkson each made two of them — while the Celtics made four field goals altogether in the aforementioned 12 minutes.
At the first-half buzzer, Jaylen Brown lost his defender on an impressive move in the lane. But he barely grazed the rim with the shot. It was that kind of quarter for both teams.
By then, the Knicks had piled up 15 points in transition, coming off nine Celtics turnovers.
“Defensively, we can be a monster of a defensive team as a group. I think our guys know it,” Mike Brown said. “And when we get the ball off the glass or we create a turnover with our activity — we just have so many weapons and so many guys that can push the pace. We want to be able to attack before that defense is set. And we showed flashes of it tonight.”
The Celtics never really recovered from that second quarter. They hardly threatened the Knicks after halftime.
The closest they got was nine in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Really, the Knicks toyed with them, looking every bit the superior team, even without starting center Mitchell Robinson.
Despite shooting only 38 percent from the field and committing 15 turnovers, they still hardly broke a sweat. It was a mismatch on the glass, the Knicks outrebounding the Celtics by 16, and turning 21 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points.
Hart had six off those offensive boards, and looked like himself despite returning from a lower back injury he suffered in the preseason opener.
“The effort on the glass is helping us generate wins while we’re still trying to — at times — find out the right way to play offensively,” the Knicks coach said.
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