Celtics vs. Knicks Game 4: Brunson sparks Knicks comeback to lead series 3-1, Tatum leaves with leg injury

Give the New York Knicks their due. On a night they needed a win, they withstood hot shooting early from Boston, came back from 14 down in the third quarter, taking over the second half of that frame, and once again executed better down the stretch behind 39 points from Jalen Brunson.

New York won 121-113 and now has a commanding 3-1 series lead — and that’s not the biggest story out of this game.

Late in the fourth quarter, Celtics star Jayson Tatum — who had a game-high 42 and had kept Boston’s offense going at points — took a hard step to go after a loose ball then went to the ground with a non-contact injury, grabbing his ankle.

Tatum was clearly in severe pain, and later was shown in tears while being wheeled down the tunnel in the back of Madison Square Garden. Tomorrow, Tatum will get an MRI, Coach Joe Mazzulla said, but that looked a lot like a torn Achilles. It’s an injury that would impact this series and, more importantly, most or all of next season for Boston.

“The loss is the loss. More importantly, it’s Jayson I’m worried about,” Al Horford said.

That emotion and genuine concern for Tatum does not take away how well the Knicks played in this game, particularly Jalen Brunson.

Game 4 started a lot like Game 3 — Boston was red hot. In the first quarter, the Knicks were 9-of-14 from 3 and 4-of-5 inside the arc. The hot shooting continued as Boston shot 50% from from 3 in the first half (12-of-24) and that led to a ridiculous 70.5 true shooting percentage in the first 24 minutes.

At the same time, it felt hard to be optimistic about the Knicks after the first half, they were hitting tough shots but not creating great advantages. The only reason to be hopeful was that the Knicks had been here before.

That hope was well founded. The Knicks closed the third quarter on a 12-2 run to take the lead. The first half of the fourth quarter remained close, but Thibodeau leaned into Miles McBride and Mitchell Robinson for what proved to be a critical stretch late, one where that duo and Mikal Bridges helped spark an 11-0 New York run that gave them a comfortable lead.

In addition to Brunson’s 39, New York got 23 each from Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns and 20 from OG Anunoby.

While Jalen Brown finished with 20 points and seven rebounds, he had a rough game that included five fouls and four turnovers. Derrick White had 23 for Boston.

The Celtics’ backs are against the wall, and it is doubtful Tatum plays in Game 5, which puts more on the shoulders of Brown, who is playing through his own injuries and has not looked like the Finals MVP of a season ago. If he doesn’t look like that on Wednesday, Boston’s season will be over a lot earlier than expected.