On Monday evening, the New York Knicks stole home court advantage in their first round series vs the Boston Celtics with a resounding come from behind road win in overtime. The Knicks were led by 29 points apiece from Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby, and also were benefited by a historically poor shooting performance by Boston.

The Knicks were down by 20 points in the third quarter, at which point beat reporter Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News took to X to proclaim that “this one's over.”

After the game, Knicks wing Josh Hart revealed how he used that tweet as motivation.

“I was playing angry. I saw Kristian’s tweet that the game was over when we were down 20, so I was playing angry after that,” said Hart, per Fred Katz of The Athletic.

He also jokingly referred to Winfield as the MVP of the game.

It's unclear where Hart saw the tweet, considering that he was on the floor for the majority of the second half and players don't go on their phones on the bench.

However, whoever showed it to him deserves a big thank you from Knicks fans.

A shocking win for the Knicks

Article Continues Below
New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges (25) shoots the ball against Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) in overtime during game one of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden
© David Butler II-Imagn Images

Not many pundits believed the Knicks had much of a chance in this series vs the Celtics given the ease with which Boston swept them 4-0 in this past regular season.

However, those results go out the window when the postseason rolls around, and New York showed every bit of their mental toughness in erasing a 20-point deficit on Monday night.

New York probably should still make some adjustments for Game 2, as the Celtics are unlikely to have another shooting game from the perimeter as bad as they had in Game 1, when they finished 15-60 from three-point range.

However, the Knicks are also capable of playing much better in their own right, as Brunson was largely quiet until the fourth quarter, and Karl-Anthony Towns spent much of the evening in foul trouble.

The Knicks will look to steal another road game and take an early stranglehold on this series when Game 2 gets underway on Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM ET.