The New York Knicks improved to 2-0 on the season as they defeated the Boston Celtics 105-95 Friday night at Madison Square Garden. 

New York was led by Jalen Brunson who scored a game-high 31 points. Karl-Anthony Towns chimed in with 29 points and 13 boards as he scored his second consecutive double-double to pace the Knicks.

Josh Hart, who missed most of the preseason and the season opener Wednesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers with back spasms and an undisclosed illness, returned and grabbed 14 rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench to help aid the Knicks.

Jaylen Brown scored 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting to lead the Celtics. Sam Hauser had 18 points on 6-of 10 shooting from behind the arc.   

The Knicks were off and running in transition from the beginning. The Celtics had three turnovers in the first 2:20 of the game which led to a 7-0 Knicks run early.

Boston then went on an 8-0 run as the Knicks shooting turned cold. At one point in the quarter the Knicks were being outshot 53 percent to 23 percent from the field. 

New York would miss eight consecutive shots in the first quarter before Towns connected from downtown to end a big Celtics run. The Celtics would then make a hockey-line change as all five starters came off the floor for a rest.

Landry Shamet would close out the quarter with a 3-point basket off of an assist from Brunson and the Knicks trailed 30-22 after one.

The Knicks started the second quarter with an 11-0 run and took a 33-30 lead and never looked back. The Knicks led 64-44 at the halftime break.

Boston would go on an 8-0 run in the third quarter as Hauser kept the Celtics in it with his 3-point prowess. Unfortunately for Hauser, the rest of the Celtics nailed only 10 of 37 3-point efforts as they could not muster much from the outside.

Miles McBride would put an end to the Knicks morbid shooting in the third quarter with a 3-pointer from the left corner pocket of the floor. The Knicks led 67-52 with 8:57 to go in the quarter.

New York would take a 78-56 lead in the third quarter, which amounted to their largest lead of the night. 

Statistically, the Knicks offense was far superior to the Celtics. The Knicks had 21 second-chance points to only seven for Boston. The Knicks also crashed the offensive boards much better as they outrebounded the Celtics 21-8. Overall, the Knicks won the rebound battle 65-43.

When the Knicks win the rebounding statistics, they usually fare well in transition. They had 15 fast break points to only two for the Celtics.