Jaylen Brown 26 points, 12 assists, 8 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers for the Celtics.
Jaylen Brown 26 points, 12 assists, 8 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers for the Celtics.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
In the home locker room about 90 minutes before tipoff on Wednesday, the Celtics’ black jerseys with green lettering, all pressed and pristine, hung neatly in the locker of each player.
And in the right corner, at Jayson Tatum’s stall, the superstar forward’s No. 0 rested on a hanger, too.
Tatum, of course, remained in a hospital about 200 miles away in New York following Tuesday’s surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.
But he remained very much on the minds of the Celtics leading up to Game 5 of this Eastern Conference semifinal against the Knicks, as they tried to figure out how they would keep their season alive without him.
At a meeting Tuesday afternoon, veterans Al Horford and Jaylen Brown spoke to the team about a path forward, even if the outside world had already decided that it would be temporary.
“Obviously, the air kind of left the room after hearing the news with JT,” Brown said. “So we didn’t want to go out like that. We didn’t want to make no excuses. We didn’t want to come out and give up or just turn the season in like what everybody else probably would expect.
“So we just said to the guys, said to each other, ‘Let’s come out, keep an open mind. Like, just come out and play basketball. Be ready to go and guard your [butt] off, and take it from there.’ ”
Tatum sent his own message to his teammates before Wednesday’s game, and it was brief and to the point.
“Just kind of encouraging us to go out and keep doing the job,” center Luke Kornet said, “keep trying to accomplish the goal.”
The true goal remains far from accomplished, but the Celtics have at least taken the first step. They pummeled the Knicks with a relentless and inspired second half and eventually rolled to a 127-102 win to pull within 3-2 in the series. Game 6 will be played at Madison Square Garden on Friday.
“We didn’t want our season to end tonight,” guard Derrick White said.
Amid the discourse following Tatum’s injury in the final minutes of Boston’s Game 4 loss, many seemed to gloss over the fact that this Boston team is still loaded with stars.
Brown, of course, is the biggest one, and Wednesday he got the opportunity to step into the lead role he has long insisted he is capable of filling.
He was efficient, precise and methodical, finishing with 26 points, 12 assists, 8 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers.
White, Tatum’s closest friend on the team and fellow Olympic gold medalist, drilled seven 3-pointers and poured in a game-high 34 points. The Celtics were 22 for 49 from the arc as a team.
But the night’s most essential performance came from a somewhat unlikely source. Center Kristaps Porzingis, who continues to battle fatigue related to the March illness that caused him to miss eight games, labored through a challenging first half and coach Joe Mazzulla said Porzingis could hardly breathe.
So with the score tied at the start of the third quarter Mazzulla inserted Kornet, the backup big man who crafted a performance that will be remembered for years if the Celtics are able to advance.
He played the entire period and blocked five shots, helping hold New York to just 17 points. Kornet finished the game with 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 blocks in just 25 minutes.
He was so effective that he was plucked to do the between-quarters interview on TNT, a spot typically reserved for someone with more stature.
“When that happened I was like, ‘Oh, OK, sure,’” Kornet quipped. “But you just sort of take it. I unfortunately was a little tired and didn’t have my usual wit and charm.”
Kornet helped the Celtics take a 91-76 lead to the fourth quarter. In most cases, that would provide significant comfort.
But the Celtics have held second-half leads of 14 points or more in all five games of this series and had won just one of the first four. This time, even without Tatum, they ensured that there would be no collapse.
New York was held scoreless for a 4-minute, 27-second stretch that started in the third quarter and bled into the fourth. And a 3-pointer by Horford followed by a putback pushed the lead to 20.
If the Knicks had any hope of another massive rally, it was dashed when star guard Jalen Brunson fouled out with just over seven minutes left. Brunson committed five fouls during the Knicks’ grisly third quarter.
The Knicks shot just 35.8 percent from the field, and although they will now return home with another chance to finish off Boston, it feels as if the pressure has shifted back toward them.
“You just rely on the character of the guys, the togetherness, the staff,” Mazzulla said. “At the end of the day, you don’t get to pick the test that you have. You just pick how you respond to them, and that’s kind of how life works.”
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.