BOSTON — The 2025-26 Boston Celtics aren't world-beaters. They won't regularly blow teams out like the 2023-24 Celtics who went on to win a championship in dominant fashion. However, they will bring the utmost effort on almost a nightly basis and stay in the fight, which was apparent during a gutsy 123-117 win over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night.

Although the C's can't truly match the talent of the Knicks at the moment with star forward Jayson Tatum out indefinitely, they are able to outwork their Atlantic Division rival. And the Celtics' recent wins over Eastern Conference contenders like the Detroit Pistons and the Cleveland Cavaliers prove their resilience against the Knicks wasn't simply a one-time thing.

“We deserved to win tonight,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown declared after upsetting the Knicks. “We were the harder playing team.”

Boston displayed its determination from the beginning, as it followed a lousy first quarter fraught with turnovers and poor shooting with a 37-point outburst in the second frame, erasing New York's early 14-point lead to go up six at halftime.

Of course, a star-studded squad like the Knicks wasn't going to accept defeat. They roared back in the fourth quarter and cut the Celtics' lead to just three points with a little under three minutes to go. The TD Garden faithful groaned, recalling their team's multiple blown leads in the 2025 Eastern Conference Semifinals that led to the Knicks prevailing in six games.

How the Celtics dismissed deja vu vs. the Knicks

Brown wouldn't let history repeat itself, though. On the next possession, he found Celtics wing Jordan Walsh open in the corner and relied on him to make a play. The 21-year-old delivered with a tough finish at the rim to give the Celtics a five-point advantage again.

That show of trust perfectly encapsulated how far the Celtics have come since the start of the season.

“It's only been 20 games, and there's been a huge amount of growth from a lot of guys, Neemy (Queta), Jordan (Walsh), Josh (Minott), even Baylor (Scheierman), Payton (Pritchard),” Brown listed.

Of course, Brown is being modest when he discusses others. He hasn't done it alone, but there's no question who has willed the C's to the majority of their wins. In fact, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP finished with a season-high 42 points (on 66.6% shooting from the field) on Tuesday night and sealed the win with a wide-open dunk with two seconds remaining.

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In spite of his recurring heroics, Brown continued to focus on the team and how everyone is capable of even more.

“We're continuing to take it just one step at a time, but the best is yet to come,” he said.

Boston's outlook wasn't always this optimistic. To kick off the regular season, the Celtics were 0-3 — their worst start in over a decade — and unable to get over .500 until the middle of November. Flash forward to now, and the C's are 12-9 overall, 7-3 in their last 10 games, and 4-2 in their last six contests, which have all been decided by 10 points or less.

“I mean, it's easy to focus on what you see now, but if you go back to preseason, before the season, we're in a much different space now,” Brown said. “You can see the difference if you go back and look at some of those early games in the season.”

There were a lot of unknowns surrounding the Celtics heading into the 2025-26 campaign, and there are still plenty of variables due to Tatum's uncertain health and the number of young players on the roster still adjusting to their new roles. But this lack of certainty is also a positive because the Celtics haven't quite figured out what their ceiling is.

Brown and company just know they haven't hit it yet.

“We showed flashes early,” Brown said of Boston's potential. “It's been there. It's always been there. We just have to put it together, but just a little more consistently. I think that's the nature of the league: how consistent can you be?”