For the first time since the 2019-20 season, the Celtics have swept the season series over the New York Knicks. But the fourth installment didn’t come as easy as the first three.
In the first three matchups, the Celtics only trailed the Knicks for 50 seconds. They cruised to wins by 23, 27, and 13 points. Tuesday night was a different story. New York pushed Boston to the brink, but the Celtics pulled out a 119-117 win in overtime.
Still, a season sweep over a division rival—and a team they could very well see in the Eastern Conference Semifinals—doesn’t mean much to the Celtics.
“It means absolutely nothing,” Derrick White said matter-of-factly when asked if the sweep gave the team any confidence going forward if they were to meet in the playoffs.
“Not at all,” Jayson Tatum added when asked if the sweep meant anything. “Playoffs are a different animal. Whatever happened in the regular season goes out the window when the playoffs start.”
Head coach Joe Mazzulla echoed almost the exact sentiment, only he, very on-brandly, explained how sweeping the season series could actually be a bad thing.
“It means nothing. If anything, it’s more dangerous for us,” said Mazzulla. “Thinking one, that we’re going to get to the second round – we may not get there. You have to surrender to that. It may not go the way that you want it. There is so much that needs to happen before that. And if you don’t handle what you’ve done against somebody else, then that could actually be more detrimental to you psychologically. It all depends on how we continue to get better as a team.”
Nonetheless, it was another win for the Celtics, who are now just one victory away from their second straight 60-win season—a milestone they haven’t reached in back-to-back years since 2007-08 and 2008-09, 15 years ago. Before that, it only happened twice, when Larry Bird led the Celtics to three consecutive 60-win seasons from 1979-82 and again from 1983-86. In total, 14 Celtics teams have reached the 60-win mark—seven of them went on to win the NBA Finals.
It would (and likely will be) a pretty impressive feat for this year's squad, especially when you consider this team played .500 basketball for roughly eight weeks during their delayed championship hangover in December and January.
Here are six takeaways from the win, which improved the Celtics to 20-4 since the All-Star break and 13-2 over their last 15.
Winning ugly
Although they had their full complement available, besides Al Horford, who was out due to a “right knee sprain,” the Celtics weren’t at their best for most of the night. They were outshot by 14 attempts (although Boston was a +9 on the free throw line), outrebounded by 14 (-8 on the offensive glass), and turned the ball over 15 times (four more than New York), which resulted in 22 points off turnovers.
They got crushed in those crucial margins that Joe Mazzulla belabors every night.
There are going to be games like this, even in the playoffs. As much as you can theoretically control these facets of the game, sometimes it’s just not going to bounce your way, and you’ll have to find a way to win. The Celtics did that on Tuesday night, which is an encouraging sign moving forward.
The Unicorn was bombing away
Midway through the third quarter, Jayson Tatum was dancing with Mikal Bridges on the wing when he lost the ball, sending it rolling toward the “K” in the Knicks’ logo at midcourt. Kristaps Porzingis scurried over, scooped up the ball, and without hesitation, despite seven seconds remaining on the shot clock, uncorked a 40-footer.
Cash.
“The ball rolled to me, and I was like, ‘This is destiny,’” Porzingis said after the game. “Just picked it up and just let it fly, honestly, without thinking too much.”
It was the deepest of his eight three-pointers, which tied a career-high. On those eight attempts, the average distance was 27.75 feet. The furthest point of the three-point line in the NBA is 23 feet and nine inches. He made four from at least 27 feet deep and two from at least 30 feet.
“I’ve tried to see if my efficiency goes up the closer I am to the three-point line, but it really doesn’t. I don’t know why I’m just comfortable shooting a little bit out,” Porzingis said. “It also helps our offense, just stretching the defense out a little more. If my efficiency doesn’t change, I just take those deeper ones. I don’t know; it’s just a little bit more comfort just knowing the guy is not going to be able to get there at all for a decent contest and just taking my time and letting it fly.”
According to NBC Sports Boston’s Dick Lipe, Porzingis is the first seven-footer in NBA history with four career games with at least eight three-pointers, as well as the first to do it twice in a season.
The big man is now shooting a career-high 41.6% from beyond the arc this year, which is also a team-best. And it was his 30-footer in overtime that ended up being the difference-maker.
“KP was unbelievable,” said Derrick White. “He missed a couple early and just kept shooting from further and further away. Having a guy that skilled, really, whatever you do is wrong. He was big time tonight.”
We all know his ability to post up, exploit mismatches, and punish switches, but the fact that the 7-foot-3 center is leading the team in three-point percentage and has taken over 240 shots is even more daunting.
“His physicality puts a ton of pressure on a defense,” Mazzulla said on Porzingis. “His screening versus different coverages – it just allows us to go to different things. It allows us to play different pick-and-roll combinations. It allows us to space him and have him as a spacer there. We’re able to use his versatility in so many different ways.”
Jayson Tatum delivered
After Josh Hart hit a lay-up with 11.2 seconds remaining, giving the Knicks a three-point lead, Joe Mazzulla elected not to call a timeout, preventing New York from having a chance to set its defense (or consider fouling up three).
The decision paid off, as Jayson Tatum hit OG Anunoby with a nasty stepback and buried a three-pointer to tie the game (which fittingly made him the third Celtic this season to pass Isaiah Thomas’ eight-year-old franchise record for threes in a season, joining Derrick White and Payton Pritchard).
“We talk about it all the time,” Tatum said on Mazzulla not calling a timeout. “We go through situations in practice and shootarounds that we might be in, and we have a pretty good idea of what we want to do.”
“Joe is very mindful of that – who gets going, especially JT. If JT is feeling good, we just want to give him the ball and get out of his way,” Kristaps Porzingis added. “He was getting some big, big buckets toward the end, and you just want to let him work and do his thing, and Joe is very mindful, very locked into the game, always calling the right plays and timeouts, etc., so hats off to him and JT.”
That bucket marked Tatum’s fourth go-ahead or game-tying shot in the final 10 seconds of a game within three points or less this season. Only Jamal Murray (6) has more. Tatum is shooting 4-of-9 (44.4%) in those situations, including 2-of-4 (50%) from beyond the arc, with his two three-pointers tied for the league lead.
Beyond the clutch shot, Tatum had another monster game, finishing with 32 points on 11-of-22 (50%) shooting, seven rebounds, five assists, a steal, and a block. Over four games against the Knicks this season, Tatum averaged 33.5 points on 53.5% shooting from the field and 47.8% from three, along with 6.8 rebounds and 7.0 assists. No player in the NBA has scored more on New York this season than Tatum.
After picking on Karl-Anthony Towns and New York’s slow-footed bigs in the first three matchups, Tatum saw a lot more of OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridge, and still, there was no answer for him.
One thing to note: Tatum played the entire fourth quarter and overtime, logging a season-high 48 minutes—his most since March 2023. With the Celtics on a back-to-back and the games now really meaningless, it would be a shock if he played on Wednesday night. Then again, you never know with him.
The two-seed is locked
As alluded to above, with Cleveland’s 135-113 win over the Chicago Bulls, the Cavaliers have clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
It’s been inevitable for a while now, but any outside hope can be put to rest. Nothing really changes. As it’s been for the past month or so, it’s all about health and rest for the Celtics.
Jaylen Brown sits down the stretch
Brown simply wasn’t himself on Tuesday night, finishing with six points on 2-of-8 (25%) shooting from the field, 0-of-2 from three, five rebounds, one assist, three turnovers, and three fouls in 21:39. He checked out in the third quarter and did not return for the fourth or overtime.
“We just got what we needed to get out of him as he continues to push himself and test himself,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “We’ve still got games left, so it was just we got what we needed to get, what we needed to see, and we just continue to move forward.”
His explosiveness was noticeably absent, and he looked as limited as he’s been while dealing with the knee injury.
“He’s a tough dude. He’s a tough dude. He always preaches his warrior mindset, and he lives by it, but to what extent do we need that right now? Maybe he needs to take care of it and make sure he’s going to be ready for the most important moments,” said Kristaps Porzingis. “So, I think we just have to encourage him to make sure he does everything he needs to prepare, to get it healthy, and to prepare for what’s going to come. And I think he’s a smart guy. So he will. It just shows his heart and how bad he wants to be out there, even for games that don’t mean super much to us right now. But that’s who he is, and we appreciate him for that.”
Brown denies that All-NBA eligibility is a motivating factor. He also mentioned last week that rest might not necessarily improve his situation before the playoffs, saying he’s focused on playing through it and learning from the experience.
However, if All-NBA eligibility is a factor—something that’s well within his right—Brown must appear in two of Boston’s final three games. He’ll only need to play 15 minutes in two of those games, as opposed to the 20 minutes he’s previously required to hit, thanks to the “near-missed” rule. This allows for games where a player plays at least 15 minutes but less than 20 to still count toward the 65-game total. Brown’s season-low so far is 21 minutes.|
Regardless, he has the support of his teammates.
“Just being there for him as much as we can. We’ve all been there to a certain extent. It’s tough,” said Jayson Tatum. “We work really hard on our craft and try to prepare ourselves to be at our best. It’s tough mentally when you are out there and you maybe can’t do what you normally do. It’s a mental hurdle that you need to fight. That’s why it’s a team sport. You’ve got teammates that got your back, cover for you, and help you get through things.”
The Celtics broke the franchise record for single-season road wins
Anytime franchise history is made in the Celtics’ organization, it deserves recognition.
In their 79th season, with nearly 7,000 games played and a record 41 players or coaches inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Celtics’ rich history makes each first even more unique.
After their win Wednesday night, the Celtics improved to 33-7 on the road, breaking a tie with the 1972-73 and 1974-75 teams for the most single-season road wins in franchise history.
“Every season is different, and every team develops different types of identities. And I think as the season went on, it was just an identity that the guys developed,” said Joe Mazzulla. “We have to be able to win big games and close games and tough games, regardless. But, that’s just kind of a small piece of the identity that this particular team has taken on.”
With a victory in Orlando on Wednesday night, the Celtics would tie the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors for the most road wins in NBA history.
“We talk about it all the time. What we wanted to accomplish last year – regardless of record or seed, if you want to win a championship, you are going to have to win some games on the road,” said Jayson Tatum. “So, kind of prepare and practice that mentality throughout the regular season
The Celtics have won 17 of their last 18 road games.
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