If “statement wins” can happen this early in the NBA season, the Boston Celtics notched one on Tuesday night with a big victory over the visiting New York Knicks, who entered TD Garden as the second-best team in the Eastern Conference. Celtics superstar Jaylen Brown overcame a clumsy first quarter to drop a game-high 42 points on New York. Brown’s mid-range game was completely unstoppable once he caught fire. JB finished 16-of-24 from the field on the night to go along with four rebounds and four assists. Brown was also 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. The Celts used a powerful second quarter to climb out of their first quarter doldrums, beating the Knicks 37-20 in Q2. Boston survived a late push from New York in the fourth, which featured a barrage of three pointers from Mikal Bridges, who was 8-of-12 from downtown on the night. At one point, the Knicks scored nine points in two possessions (!) when Bridges hit a three, followed by getting fouled on a three by Hugo González on the next possession. The foul was deemed a flagrant, which gave the Knicks the ball back after Bridges’ three made free throws, and Karl-Anthony Towns connected on an and-one. Story continues below advertisement The very next possession, Bridges hit another three, making it a 12-0 run in three trips up the floor for New York. It was a moment of crisis for the Celtics, and it appeared like things were about to take a turn for the worst. Clutch offensive rebounding and finishing from Jordan Walsh weathered the storm for Boston after this segment, as did a big three from Derrick White. The Celtics survived losing the fourth quarter by 12 points and ended up with a 123-117 win, avenging their loss to the Knicks on October 24, which was just the second game of the season. White was Boston’s second-leading scorer with 22 points on 8-of-16 from the field to go along with five dimes. The Celtics got three triples off the bench from Josh Minott, who finished with a meaningful 11 points. Story continues below advertisement Bridges led New York in scoring with 35, Towns right behind him with 29. Jalen Brunson was rendered mostly useless as a scorer, shooting 6-for-21 from the field, but he did tally 11 assists to his credit. Brown is now averaging 29.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists this season. He hasn’t missed a game yet. Story continues below advertisement Next up for the Celtics: at the Washington Wizards on Thursday.