BOSTON — The gap between Knicks and the Celtics has only seemed to widen.
New York’s latest defeat to its rival Friday night was worse than the 133-123 final score, a drubbing at TD Garden that included a late injury to Jalen Brunson and reinforced the Knicks’ middling position on the Eastern Conference’s totem pole.
The Knicks (12-9) have dropped three games already to the Celtics, and their defense didn’t give them a chance Friday. Boston (16-5) shot 53 percent overall, nailing 19 treys and getting 30 points from Derrick White.
The Celtics used a 14-7 run at the end of the first half to take a nine-point lead.
The score never got closer than seven in the second half despite Jaylen Brown’s fourth-quarter ejection for arguing with the referee.
“It’s problematic. We got to fix our defense,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It starts individually. Better containment of the ball. Better ball pressure. Better challenging shots. And every aspect. I thought offensively guys did a good job trying to create advantages. The rebounding is good. But our defense has to be fixed.”
The Knicks trailed for the final 29 minutes of game clock.
Adding injury to insult, Brunson left the game limping after landing on Celtics guard Payton Pritchard in garbage time.
It was an unnecessary issue because the All-Star hopeful turned his ankle when the Knicks had no chance of winning — with about 20 seconds left and down 12.
Brunson’s status is unknown.
He left the arena without talking to the media, and neither Thibodeau nor his teammates had any answers.
The Knicks play the Raptors at home on Monday.
“We’ve got a couple days off, so we’ll see,” Julius Randle said. “Right now, I don’t know anything. Just trying to recover from the game and reset. We’ll figure it out.”
Having padded their record against bottom dwellers, the Knicks are now 2-9 against teams with winning records.
Friday’s matchup was the loser’s bracket of the In-Season Tournament, an addition to the schedule that has been decidedly unfair to the Knicks.
They already played an extra game in Milwaukee on Tuesday then tried to win Friday night at one of the toughest places to play in the NBA.
The Celtics are now 10-0 at home. The Knicks would’ve been better off not advancing to the quarterfinals of Adam Silver’s tournament.
“It is what it is,” Brunson said before the game.
The uninspiring effort followed a similar defeat three days earlier in Milwaukee, where the Knicks were bombarded with 3-pointers and blown out by another contender.
Against the Celtics, the starting lineup was especially outperformed. It did fine scoring — RJ Barrett had 23 points, Randle had 20 and Brunson had 23 — but the defense was overwhelmed.
The Knicks, for instance, were outscored by 21 points with Brunson on the court.
“We were kind of chasing all game, and I feel we were giving up too many open 3s,” Barrett said.
It was the first look of a new starting lineup for the Knicks, who replaced Quentin Grimes with Donte DiVincenzo at shooting guard.
The move was meant to boost the production and confidence of Grimes, who didn’t feel involved in the offense alongside three ball-dominant teammates — Brunson, Barrett and Randle.
It worked.
Grimes was more aggressive, more confident, more involved.
In his first nine-minute stretch as a sub, the 23-year-old scored more points (eight) than his previous seven games.
Grimes’ 13 total points represented his most since Nov. 3. He played about the same minutes as his average (19) and logged fourth-quarter time.
But the starters struggled.
“Whatever we can do to get both groups functioning well, that’s what we’re trying to do,” Thibodeau said.
