The New York Knicks were riding high entering their Tuesday night contest against the Boston Celtics. Entering on a four-game winning streak fueled by a new-look starting lineup, the Knicks were hoping to extend their winning streak against a divisional opponent they've seen in countless big games in the recent past.

However, with defense being the X-Factor in this contest for the Knicks, they failed to contain the Celtics, who shot 56% from the field, led by Jaylen Brown's game-high 42 points en route to a 123-117 win for Boston. Even though the Knicks had an efficient offensive night outside of their star Jalen Brunson, enough went against them to drop their seventh game of the season.

After the game, Knicks head coach Mike Brown spoke candidly about what he believes led to the loss, pointing out a unique part of the game that he thought led to his team's demise.

"I thought we got caught up in the officials a little too much, you know. They're human, they're going to make some good calls, and they're going to make some bad calls, throughout the course of the game," Brown said. "At the end of the day, we had 17 free throws, and they had 14."

Also factoring in the Celtics having 20 personal fouls to the Knicks' 15, the overall calls went in New York's favor. However, the refs aren't going to call everything, as Brown pointed out.

"One of the things we pride ourselves on is trying to be a no-excuse team, and I thought tonight we were all on the officials a little too much," he added.

Derrick White and Jaylen Brown led Boston's offense to the win, scoring 22 and 42 points, respectively, and combining for a 60% field goal percentage.

As for the Knicks, Brunson's poor offensive effort didn't help their cause, as he converted just 6-of-21 attempts from the field and one of his eight attempts from three. Even with Mikal Bridges having a stellar offensive game and solid contributions from Karl-Anthony Towns (29 points) and Josh Hart (19 points), the rest of the team didn't step it up.

In addition, Mitchell Robinson and Tyler Kolek were big negatives in their minutes, having the lowest plus-minuses on the team at -14 and -23, respectively. Even though Robinson had four offensive rebounds, the same can be said for Boston's Jordan Walsh.

This Knicks team is clearly talented and should've been able to handle the Celtics without Landry Shamet and OG Anunoby, but sometimes stuff doesn't go your way. They'll now return to New York and get back in action on Wednesday night against the Charlotte Hornets.