BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics were overdue for a dud. They hadn't lost to an inferior opponent since the last day of November and that loss -- to the visiting Detroit Pistons -- was the team's only bad defeat over more than a two-month span until the New York Knicks dropped by TD Garden on Wednesday night.

Make no mistake, the Celtics, winners of 13 of their previous 16 games, didn't just fizzle on Wednesday. A Knicks team playing without both Kristaps Porzingis and Joakim Noah went small and punched Boston straight in the mouth while finishing an absurd plus-24 in total rebound differential. New York's bench put Boston in a hole in the first half and Derrick Rose turned back the clock (30 points, 10 rebounds) as the Knicks emerged with a 117-106 triumph.

"[The Knicks] punked us," said Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas, who scored a game-high 39 points but couldn't find any of his usual fourth-quarter magic to rescue his team. "They were the harder-playing team on both ends of the floor. They had guys come in the game and just play way harder than we did and that was the definition of this game. They played harder than us, they out-rebounded us, they played more physical than us.

"You're not going to beat anybody the way they manhandled us."

Isaiah Thomas and the Celtics weren't sure why they couldn't match the Knicks' effort on Wednesday. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Boston's loss will, at least temporarily, wash away all the goodwill it has built lately in a city that loves to overreact to single games. The Celtics have posted a 16-8 record since that Detroit loss, the seven other losses coming exclusively to teams near or ahead of them in the standings (Toronto and Oklahoma City twice; San Antonio, Houston and Cleveland). So despite taking care of business against lesser competition, Boston's latest dud will send up all sorts of red flags and calls for Danny Ainge to secure a competent rebounder for the stretch run.

Yes, the Celtics desperately need to shore up the glass. Yes, Boston's underperforming defense has been masked lately by Thomas' offensive ridiculousness. But those were issues before Wednesday's butt-whopping. The loss only reinforced what this team needs to work on in the second half of the season.

It's simply fair to remember that Wednesday was more the outlier than the rule.

"They just did whatever they wanted, offensively and defensively, and that was embarrassing for us tonight," Thomas said.

Added Jae Crowder: "We just got outplayed, start to finish. That was basically the game. We got outplayed. They wanted it more than we did and it showed."

Thomas managed to help Boston hang around into the fourth quarter before Rose and a Knicks team that shot 50.5 percent overall and 40 percent beyond the 3-point arc started to pull away. It seemed impossible that the Celtics were within a point with eight minutes to go, but it never felt like they were going to steal this one.

"We didn't deserve [to win]," Crowder said.

The Celtics have two days off for talk radio to fret about Al Horford's worst outing of the season. Horford's average annual salary of $28.3 million will be referenced along with his cringeworthy 2-for-14 shooting performance (he missed seven of eight 3-pointers). Horford finished with a team-best 10 assists and his passing helped Boston make a run in the third quarter but, like his teammates, Horford just didn't have it on this night.

"I struggled badly, offensively," Horford said. "I tried to do everything I could to help us and I couldn't."

Pressed on the last time he played so poorly, Horford added, "I don't recall. This year I probably had another night as rough, probably not as bad as this, but it was bad and I have to be better."

But that goes for everyone on Boston's roster. It's somewhat telling that you'll hear how Thomas had a quiet fourth quarter. Sure, Thomas struggled by making just 2 of 9 shots, missing four shots near the basket in the final frame. Alas, he still had eight points, which is more points than every player in the league other than Russell Westbrook averages in the fourth quarter this season.

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We've simply become conditioned lately to Thomas going off for 20 or more points in the final frame to rescue the Celtics in a tight game.

"It happens. I can't make every shot," Thomas said. "But I'm just going to keep going, keep being aggressive. Because I know that's what my team needs. I could have played a lot better in that fourth, need to lock in and concentrate a lot more, especially when I'm around the basket. I missed a few of those that I usually make, but other than that, it was more than what I did in the fourth quarter. As a team, we weren't there."

Thomas, who will watch Thursday night as All-Stars starters are announced and believes his name should be called, downplayed the notion that Boston players were looking at him to save them in the fourth quarter.

Celtics players left with a reminder that Boston has had to scrap for wins all season and that nothing is going to come easy for this team. They can't just show up and beat lesser opponents, at least not until they figure out how to get back to playing the level of defense we saw last season.

"We're definitely growing as a group and understanding that we can't afford to not be focused throughout," Horford said. "There's maybe a couple teams in the league that could get away with that, but we can't afford that. We need to be solid every night."