With a stunning 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the New York Knicks have the Boston Celtics’ backs up against the wall in a way the champs haven’t felt since 2023.
Now, this group has to show they’ve really buried that history, or they’ll be doomed to repeat it.
Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat were the last team who had the Celtics down this bad in the playoffs, and despite a valiant three-game winning streak to force a Game 7 in that 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, their season didn’t live up to their expectations. The had every intention of returning to the Finals and avenging their loss from the year before, just as this group has the goal of going back-to-back for the first time in Celtics history since the 1960s.
Boston’s Game 2 second half meltdown conjured flashbacks like a bad trip, both of the very recent and more distant past. They were up a healthy 20 points once again in the third quarter, as they were in Game 1. But this second round of NBA playoffs serves as a reminder that a 20-point lead doesn’t mean much in the modern game – just ask the Donovan Mitchell.
And Boston’s seven turnovers in the third quarter were reminiscent of the 2022 NBA Finals, as Jaylen Brown lost the ball three times by himself. Head coach Joe Mazzulla sounded none-too-pleased about the live ball giveaways that led to a direct seven-point profit for the Knicks.
“If you don’t - when you get the shot - execute it, and when you have live ball turnovers, make the necessary plays to be able to win, there’s pressure against a really good offensive team who generate the same type of shots,” Mazzulla said minutes after the shocking loss.
What’s more concerning is the déjà vu the team has to feel comparing the fourth quarters in this series, during which the Knicks have outscored them 55-33 total. Jalen Brunson has accounted for a total of 20 points across those two closeout quarters and there’s nothing the Celtics could plan for more than guarding the guy – he’s quite literally earned the title NBA Clutch Player of the Year. On the other side, the Celtics shot between 19% and 20% to close out regulation in both games. Jaylen Brown mused about whether Boston’s soured offense led them to lose their grip on the game.
“To start the fourth quarter we had like four or five great looks that didn’t go in. Maybe that affected us,” Brown said postgame.
The mystery around Kristaps Porzingis’ health is another common underlying factor, hanging heavy like a storm cloud over the start of series. Porzingis was a total nonfactor during his minutes in Game 1, vanished midway through the second quarter, and was ruled out with an illness. Al Horford started in his place in Game 2, and Luke Kornet got the first nod to the floor ahead of Porzingis in the rotation. When he did get in the game, he looked labored. He didn’t hit a shot until the third quarter on a catch and shoot three-pointer. Mazzulla was vague detailing his condition earlier in the week and whether it’s related to a respiratory illness that knocked him out for weeks in the spring, but his appearances this series thus far are concerning. Porzingis was dominant against the Knicks in the regular season, matching his career-high eight three-pointers in their final meeting before the postseason.
Then again, as Brown noted, the Knicks were a team the Celtics swept in the regular season. And now, they’ve lost their first two at home.
“The regular season is totally different than the playoffs,” he said. “Obviously, you can see that.”