The New York Knicks managed to run away with the Super Sunday win over the division rival Boston Celtics. How did they do it?

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It was an un-Super Sunday for the Bostonian sports fan. Before the New England Patriots were drubbed by the Seattle Seahawks defense before and after a Bad Bunny concert in the Bay Area, the Boston Celtics stumbled out of the gate and never recovered in a matinee loss to the New York Knicks, 111-89.

The game started competitive, tied at 13 with 6:51 left in the first quarter. However, the Knicks promptly jumped out to a 35-18 run and set themselves ahead by 17 with 8:02 remaining in the second.

The Celtics did not completely fold, and managed to push back to the tune of a 30-17 run to get within a 65-61 margin with 8:48 left in the third. But ultimately, the Knicks had one more power-punch in their arsenal, and pulled away on a 46-28 swoon.

Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 31 points and eight assists. Josh Hart chipped in 19 points, Mikal Bridges added 14, and Karl-Anthony Towns scrapped up an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double. Jose Alvarado (12 points) and Mohamed Diawara (10 points) made major contributions off the bench.

Jaylen Brown paced the Celtics with 26 points while Derrick White added 19 points. Starting two-guard Baylor Scheierman tacked on 10 points and career highs in rebounds (13) and assists (five). New arrival Nikola Vucevic added 11 points from off the bench, though it was on 13 field goal attempts.

Jalen Brunson set the tone.

The New York Knicks led the latter 42:51 of the game, and it was All-star point guard Jalen Brunson that led the charge. 15 of his 31 points came in the opening frame, sinking six of his nine field goal attempts, including two of his four three-pointers. But in addition to scoring, he also excelled at the playmaking, dishing out four of his eight assists in the first quarter. His four dimes led to eight points, six of those coming from Josh Hart layups.

This strong outing was a great bounce-back from a rough 12-point, 4-of-20 night at the Detroit Pistons on Friday. Brunson dusted himself off and immediately go back to his All-Star self on Sunday afternoon. He played all 12 minutes of a first quarter, and led the team to a 35-24 advantage at the break. It was a lead that the Celtics never fully recovered from, and Brunson was key to putting his Knicks in that position to win.

The Celtics died by the three.

The Knicks got out to a big lead early. However, in modern basketball, no lead is ever safe, especially one that’s accrued early in a game. Despite the Knicks start, the Celtics were more than capable of getting back in the game and even taking the lead.

Unfortunately, that moment never came, thanks in large part to their complete power outage from beyond the arc. Boston ended the afternoon shooting 7-of-41 (17.1 percent) from three-point range. This includes being shutout 0-of-10 in the third quarter. This was their worst three-point shooting performance since December 2021 and was the key contributor to their season-low point total.

Boston’s brutal night from beyond overshadowed some of the positive aspects of the Celtics play. It wiped out strong games from Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, the Celtics dominance in paint points (52-38), and their effort on the offensive glass (14 o-boards). Ultimately, their shooting drought took them too far out of the game for those other facets to matter.

To their credit, this could be one of their losses that they could shrug off. Boston entered the game ninth in the NBA in three-point percentage. While Sunday’s performance dropped them all the way to 13th, it will certainly hard for them to replicate such an ugly statline.

Knicks looked to send a message to East with this win.

As the season draws later, the jockeying for position in the standings will get more intense. The Knicks entered the game third in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the Celtics. New York’s victory tied the teams at 34-19 on the year, but also gave them the 2-1 head-to-head advantage. Now, the Knicks sit second in the East, with their eyes set towards the top.

New York (and Boston) is now five games behind the Detroit Pistons, the team that just drubbed them two days prior 118-80. So the hierarchy is set in the conference for now; there is plenty of work to be done if the Knicks want to overtake Detroit. They will have to continue to fight and claw as the season marches on if they hope to live-up to their championship-contender expectations.