Knicks blow 14-point lead — and winning streak — in loss to Celtics

Jalen Brunson has spoken about this at least twice. As captain of a Knicks team with championship aspirations, it’s his job to put things in perspective.

And while the Knicks have been piling on 40-point quarters (a league-leading nine, to be exact) to start their first season under new head coach Mike Brown, they haven’t done the best job protecting their leads.

The Knicks blew a sizable first quarter advantage before pulling away in Sunday’s victory over the Toronto Raptors. They built another 14-point lead in Boston against the Celtics on Tuesday.

This time, they weren’t fortunate enough to pull away a second time.

Instead, they blew that lead, too, then found themselves beneath a Celtics avalanche fueled by Jaylen Brown, Boston’s lone All-Star in the aftermath of Jayson Tatum’s devastating Achilles injury last playoff run. Brown scored 37 points through the first three quarters, including 33 in the middle two periods alone.

He finished with 42 points on 16-of-24 shooting from the field, calling isolation after isolation — Brunson here, Mitchell Robinson there — routinely taking advantage of cross-matches as the Knicks presented them.

And in the blink of an eye, that 14-point lead turned into an 18-point deficit entering the fourth quarter. The Celtics went on to win a nail biter at the TD Garden — 123-117 — to snap the Knicks’ four-game winning streak. The Knicks fell to 3-6 on the road, continuing their struggled after losing their first four away games of the season.

The Celtics outscored the Knicks, 73-44, in the second and third periods combined.

Yet, in fashion typical of these Knicks, drama ensued shortly after Brown’s eruption. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla made the decision to sit his scorching-hot All-Star the opening six minutes of the final period. The Knicks took advantage. They made it a ball game.

New York went on a ferocious 23-8 run at the the top of the fourth quarter, including a 10-0 run int the span of 45 seconds to make it a 102-99 game midway through the final period.

It was too little, too late, too big of a gap to overcome, and too much momentum to swing back their way, no matter how many Mikal Bridges threes went in.

Bridges finished with a team-high 35 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field and 8-12 shooting from downtown. Karl-Anthony Towns added another 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field. But Brunson struggled under the combined length of Boston’s wing defenders.

The captain finished with just 15 points on 6-of-21 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 shooting from downtown to go with his 11 assists on the night. Brunson became visibly frustrated attempting to blow by Boston’s Josh Minott, Jordan Walsh and Derrick White, a vaunted three-and-D wing well known for his perimeter on-ball defense.

All the while, minutes crept for a starting five tasked with playing another game in less than 24 hours. Brunson logged 39 minutes, Hart played 36, and no other starter logged fewer than Towns’ 33.

The Knicks return to Madison Square Garden to face the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, and recent history says they will protect home court with a 10-1 record at MSG. Their road woes, however, continue with yet another loss away from home. They have three more games at The Garden before hitting the road again.