BOSTON _ One of the four cornerstones of New York's youth movement was in street clothes. Another was in uniform but didn't play until the end of the third quarter. The final two combined for 18 points on 5-for-25 shooting.
Tuesday night's 110-89 loss to the Celtics was about as bad as it gets for the Knicks.
They were abused by a better team, without many, if any, positives to glean from a one-sided beatdown. Kristaps Porzingis missed 11 of his 14 attempts, finishing with just 12 points while hounded by Boston's defense.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens has always found ways to frustrate Porzingis, and Friday was no different.
But at least Porzingis played well in the previous two games. Tim Hardaway Jr. just continued his struggles as the $71 million man. He shot 2-for-11 with six points, bringing his season shooting percentage to (shield your eyes) 24 percent.
Frank Ntilikina sat out his second straight game because of a sprained ankle. Willy Hernangomez, banished to the end of the bench by Jeff Hornacek, was finally inserted with 3:41 left in the third quarter, only to log extended garbage time minutes.
The Celtics (2-2) were a happier story. They are still trying to get over the loss of Gordon Hayward to that horrific leg injury, and the Knicks gave them plenty of reasons to feel good about themselves _ mostly because of rookie Jayson Tatum (22 points) and Jaylen Brown (23).
Boston's first bucket of the game was Tatum, a 19-year-old rookie, dunking on top of Hardaway's head off an offensive board. It was a fitting start to TD Garden becoming a slaughterhouse Tuesday.
The Knicks were the meat.
Five minutes after Tatum's dunk, Brown, 21, turned a steal into a double-pump reverse dunk. Boston was up by 20 early in the second quarter and cruising. New York never again got the deficit closer than 15.
Hardaway Jr., who was matched head-to-head with Brown, missed his first eight field goal attempts. His lone point in the first half was a free throw he didn't even earn _ a technical off a Celtics' defensive 3 seconds violation.
The Knicks (0-3) are already in trouble. If they don't win Friday against the Nets, they'll play Cleveland, Denver and Houston over a three-day stretch. In other words, they face the possibility of starting 0-7 before the schedule eases up.
But the Knicks are accustomed to losing at this point. Counting its 0-5 showing in preseason, New York is winless since April. None were as deflating as Tuesday. With less than six minutes remaining and the Knicks trailing by 23, the starters were still on the court and looked like they wanted no part of this game.
