Boston Celtics' Jae Crowder reacts after hitting a three-point basket during the first half of the NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016 in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Boston Celtics' Jae Crowder reacts after hitting a three-point basket during the first half of the NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016 in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Credit: ap photographs — Seth Wenig

New York — When the New York Knicks tried to make a Christmas comeback, the Boston Celtics’ response was strong and Smart.

Isaiah Thomas scored 27 points, Marcus Smart made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 47 seconds left after Boston blew a late lead, and the Celtics beat New York 119-114 on Sunday.

The Knicks wiped out a late nine-point deficit with an out-of-nowhere 11-2 run in a little more than a minute, but Smart answered with his shot and Avery Bradley and Al Horford made big defensive plays afterward.

“We did a good job of just being calm and gutting out the win,” Thomas said.

Jae Crowder and Kelly Olynyk each had 16 points for the Celtics, who won for the fifth time in six games.

Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points and Derrick Rose had 25 for the Knicks, who fell to 22-29 in their NBA-record 51 Christmas appearances.

Crowder made three straight 3-pointers in the second quarter as Boston took a 56-48 halftime advantage. The Celtics rarely built the lead much bigger in the second half, but also never let the Knicks make much of a dent in it, always coming up with some stops and points whenever it got within a couple of possessions.

Suddenly Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis scored all the points in the run that tied it at 112 on Anthony’s layup with 1:06 to play, but Boston wasn’t rattled.

“They had the crowd behind them on a very special day and this team just did a really good job of making sure when they punched us we punched right back,” said Smart, whose mouth was bloodied earlier when Rose crashed into him on a drive to the basket.

The Celtics worked it around to Smart for his 3, and Bradley forced Anthony to turn it over on New York’s next possession. Thomas hit a free throw to make it a four-point game, and it stayed that way when Horford blocked Porzingis’ shot.

Cavaliers 109, Warriors 108

Cleveland — Kyrie Irving dropped a fadeaway jumper over Klay Thompson with 3.4 seconds left and Cleveland came back to beat Golden State just as they did last June in the NBA Finals.

The Cavs trailed 94-80 early in the fourth quarter before rallying before a rowdy Christmas crowd. Irving made the biggest basket, as was the case in the Finals when he hit a late 3-pointer in Game 7.

Golden State had one last chance but Kevin Durant was tripped coming off a screen and couldn’t get off a shot as time expired.

Spurs 119, Bulls 100

San Antonio — LaMarcus Aldridge had a season-high 33 points and San Antonio held on to beat Chicago after nearly blowing a hot start.

Kawhi Leonard added 25 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Tony Parker had 13 points and eight assists.

Chicago rallied from a 20-point deficit to lead by three points midway through the third quarter but could not sustain the push, taking its third straight loss.

Thunder 112, Timberwolves 100

Oklahoma City — Russell Westbrook had 31 points and 15 assists to help Oklahoma City beat Minnesota.

Westbrook had 10 assists in the second half to help Oklahoma City take control, although he fell short of becoming the first Thunder player to score at least 40 points in four straight games.

Steven Adams scored 22 points and Enes Kanter added 20 points for the Thunder, who shot 51.2 percent while winning their third straight.

Karl-Anthony Towns scored 26 points and Andrew Wiggins had 23 points for the Timberwolves. Minnesota had won three of five, including wins at Chicago and Atlanta.

Semaj Christon’s 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave the Thunder a 57-53 lead.

Westbrook had 17 points at halftime, then made 4 for 6 shots and dished out five assists in the third quarter.