Trés Bien: Barrett’s Buzzer-beater Sinks Celtics on Fournier’s Career Night.
You’ve heard of a wing and a prayer. Well this was a prayer from the wing. I can’t take credit for that line. It comes from a former teammate in an old man basketball league, but it’s the perfect way to describe RJ Barrett’s game-winning buzzer-beater that banked home Thursday night at the Garden. The Knicks faithful erupting with joy as New York pulled off an improbable 25-point comeback in the 108-105 win over the Boston Celtics.
Before hitting the team’s biggest shot of the season, Barrett was having one of his worst games of the season. The comeback was led primarily by former Celtic Evan Fournier who finished with a career-high 41 points and tied JR Smith’s franchise record with 10-threes. In a season where the Frenchman has stunk up the court like Pepé Le Pew, Fournier has put up All-NBA performances against his former team. So far this season he’s scored 32, 32, and now 41 points against Boston.
In addition to Fournier, Julius Randle came up huge in the third quarter. Randle, who was coming off one of his best performances of the season with 30 points and 16 rebounds against Indiana, struggled in the first half. After getting booed by the fans, Randle donned the black hat and went into beast mode. First he finished a strong three-point play, then he followed it up by knocking over Gran Williams like a bowling ball, bringing the Garden crowd to it’s feet. But after hitting another big layup in the fourth, on the way back up the court Randle gave the fans the now well-recognized thumbs down originated by Javy Baez during his time with the Mets.
”Shut the f*** up,” Randle said when asked what the gesture to fans meant after the game. Maybe the Power Forward was practicing his own French to celebrate Fournier’s big night. While this surely won’t age well, for the night it was part of an old-school New York edge that helped spur the monster comeback. Maybe it’s Randle’s way of channeling the “mamba mentality” that he learned from his mentor Kobe Bryant who was known to have an edge on the court.
The Knicks needed every ounce of that grit because even after blowing the lead the Celtics fought back. Jason Tatum hit a tough step-back jumper to tie it at 105 with less than 2-seconds left. Tatum finished with 36, but it wasn’t enough. On the next possession, Barrett banked home the game winner despite some tough defense from Tatum. In fact, Barrett said he didn’t even get to see the shot go in because he fell to the floor after letting him go. Despite Randle’s earlier request, the fans let him know it was good.
We’ll see what these two teams can provide for the encore when they run it back Saturday night in Boston.