The fire alarms that forced an evacuation of TD Garden after the Celtics fell behind 0-2 to the Knicks weren’t the only ones sounding across the Commonwealth on Wednesday night. After blowing a 20-point lead and collapsing in the fourth quarter for the second straight game, panic alarms were blaring, too.
Suddenly, a team that’s spent the last two seasons rewriting the record books finds itself on the wrong side of history—becoming the first team in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97) to lose multiple postseason games after leading by 20 or more points. And they did it in back-to-back games... at home.
“Two games we were up 20 points, and somehow we come out not with wins,” said Jaylen Brown. “It’s inexcusable.”
Indeed, it is.
The lack of poise was jarring from the reigning champions. After building their 20-point lead with 3:12 left in the third quarter, they finished with more turnovers (6) than made field goals (5) over the final 15:12 of the game. They shot 5-of-28 (17.9%) from the field and 2-of-14 (14.3%) from three. This is the same team that had the former President of the United States referencing their NBA-record points per possession from a season ago during their championship trip to the White House in November.
Somehow, that was worse than their abysmal 9-of-39 (23.1%) shooting from the field and 6-of-28 (21.4%) from three with six turnovers over the final 22:46 of Game 1, after they had built a 20-point lead with 5:46 to go in the third quarter.
“They made every play. Throughout the end of the third and into the fourth quarter, I thought we generated some good looks,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We had some live-ball turnovers, and they took advantage of it. They made the necessary plays to win. We put ourselves in a position to do that and didn’t make the plays.”
The Celtics only blew one 20+ point lead this regular season. Prior to this week, they had only blown three over the last two seasons (including playoffs). Yet there was an unmistakable “here we go again” feeling of nervousness when New York closed the third quarter on an 8-0 run, cutting a 20-point lead down to 12.
“We got a lot of great looks. We’ve just got to convert,” Brown said. “We’ve got to make plays. We just didn’t make plays tonight, and that was the story of the game. Our defense did enough. We got some great open looks. We’ve got to convert those.”
Shotmaking—or the lack of it—has defined this series. The Celtics are shooting just 35.6% from the field (68-of-191) and a brutal 25.0% from three (25-of-100) through the first two games. Their worst shooting performance in any regular-season game this year was 36.5%. Before this series, Boston had only shot 35% or worse in a playoff game seven times in the last 15 years.
In the fourth quarter and overtime this series, the Celtics have managed just 38 points across 29 minutes, shooting 11-of-53 (20.7%) from the field and 5-of-29 (17.2%) from three. They’ve been outscored by 25 in those stretches.
“The last couple of games, and I’m not sure about the series before, we haven’t shot the ball excellent,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “I think it’s a matter of time until it turns our way. But we need some urgency even if the three ball isn’t falling up to our level. We need urgency in other areas and can still do it.”
They have no choice.
Only four teams have ever come back to win a series after losing the first two games at home. One was the 2017 Celtics, led by Isaiah Thomas, who stormed back against the Chicago Bulls. Of the 463 series in NBA history that reached a 2-0 at any point, only 34 teams (7.3%) came back to win, but at least one team has done it in eight of the last nine years.
“You are down 2-0, heading on the road. You have an understanding of your environment and what you’re up against,” Mazzulla said. “There are also a lot of things that we are doing well, but there are things that we need to be extremely better at in those situations. So, obviously, you have an understanding of the environment. You are down 0-2. Got to go on the road and find a way to win.”
The Celtics are falling into old habits—the same ones that haunted them in 2023. But if there’s a silver lining, it’s that it’s taken two epic collapses for them to lose these games. And yet, in both, they had the ball with a chance to tie or win in the final moments.
However, time is running out. Boston knows that none of the last five defending champs have made it out of the second round. This team has already proven it can play and win at a championship level. Now, it’s time to show it with their backs against the wall.
“Obviously, being down 0-2 sucks. But we’ve got a great group, and if I had to select any guys to get it done, it’s the group that we have in our locker room,” said Brown. “We’ve just got to come out a little bit more poised, take a deep breath, convert our opportunities. We missed layups, easy baskets. And take advantage.”
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