Photo by Charles Krupa / AP Photos
The New York Knicks came into TD Garden and silenced the Boston crowd after beating the Celtics 108-105 in overtime.
Like many Celtics fans, I came into this second-round matchup with the expectations of a sweep or a gentleman’s sweep. The Knicks are a good team, but after getting swept in the season series, it seemed like this matchup was just a bad one for New York.
For most of the game, it seemed like this would be the case. The Celtics started to pull away in the second quarter and grew their lead to 20 points midway through the third quarter.
But once their lead reached that point, the Knicks turned it around and rallied for the remainder of the game, tying it up at the 4:40 mark of the fourth quarter.
Jalen Brunson was as hot as the sun during the rally, hitting clutch three after clutch three.
On the other side, the Celtics looked like they were shooting with a lid on the basket. After a hot start, Tatum went ice cold when it mattered most, missing several key threes late in the game.
What was most frustrating about Tatum’s performance was how he would constantly get switched onto a smaller defender. Instead of bullying them and finishing around the basket, he’d take repeated step-back threes.
Jaylen Brown is also clearly not 100% still. He went 1-for-10 from three and was a complete liability on offense when the Celtics needed him.
Porzingis had the worst showing of them all. He went scoreless in the first half and left the game in the second half with an ‘illness’. This guy just cannot stay on the floor.
I also think a lot of blame has to fall on the shoulders of head coach Joe Mazulla. The team showed no urgency for large portions of the second half, even as New York was in striking distance.
For some reason, he also designed a play for ice-cold Brown to take the game’s final shot. The ball was stolen regardless, but the decision has to leave fans scratching their heads.
The most puzzling aspect of the entire game was how committed Boston was to taking three-pointers, even when everyone on the floor couldn’t make a thing.
Boston media talking heads have foreshadowed this being the C’s Achilles heel, and boy, were they right.
No matter how bad they were shooting, possession after possession was spent chucking up long balls.
What I really don’t understand is that the Celtics have shown the ability to change their game plan and still find success. In fact, they did this last series against Orlando.
Now, I won’t sound the panic alarms yet. If you want to look at this game with a positive spin, you can say that the Celtics went just 15-for-60 from three, and still almost won.
That being said, something needs to change for game two before this series slips away.
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