The game continued.
The Celtics had the ball again.
They tried to change their approach.
White carried the ball to the right from the top of the key, then waited for Tatum to establish position in the low post before lobbing it in.
They wanted Tatum to solve the problem down low.
Unfortunately, it did not work this time.
Tatum leaned into Toppin to test the contact, then put the ball on the floor, turned toward the middle, gathered it, and faked a shot before going up.
The ball bounced off the rim under pressure.
Horford secured the defensive rebound and passed to Chen Xi.
Chen Xi crossed half court and isolated against Holiday at the top of the key.
He used a front crossover into a crossover step to drive, bumped his defender aside to create space, and stopped short. He gathered and jumped, drew help from Porzingis in midair, then passed to Horford under the basket.
Horford caught it and laid it in.
The lead was nine.
The Celtics attacked again.
Tatum tried the low post once more.
This time, he turned toward the baseline and drove into the paint. When Horford came over to help, he passed to White on the weak side.
White then drove inside, trying to attack the paint.
But his short floater near the rim bounced out under Horford's pressure.
Toppin grabbed the rebound, and New York broke the other way again.
Chen Xi caught the pass on the break at the left wing. A shot fake drew both Brown and Holiday toward him, and he calmly passed to George, who was cutting in from the opposite wing.
Paul George caught it, rose, and slammed it through with both hands.
The lead grew to eleven.
On the next possession,
the Celtics went on