Knicks (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Round 2 Game 1 5/5/25

[Who]

20pt lead midway Q3. What a collapse.

Then NY goes on a 20-6 run. The only baskets were two Tatum triples. Horford ends the quarter with a 3 to push the lead back to 9.

6 missed threes. Horford 1. Jaylen 1. D White 2. Hauser 1. Tatum 1. Plus 1 turnover. I don't think they took anything other than 3 point shots in the final 6 minutes of the quarter while NYC was making this run.

They start Q4 doing the same. 2 threes on first possession. Both missed. Then Jaylen air balls a step back 22 footer over Towns. Jrue turnover. Now it has been 8 minutes where they have done nothing but shoot long jump-shots. At least Jaylen has been looking to attack Towns on the drive. It just hasn't panned out on last 2 possessions.

NY 5-0 run to start Q4. Lead down to 4. Pritchard misses another 3. Celtics now 12-45 from three. Timeout Mazzula. Tatum bricks a contested 3 off the dribble early in the shot clock out of the timeout. I doubt that is what Mazzula wanted. OG hits a 3. 1 point game. Kornet moving screen.

Now it is 9 minutes since they took a shot within 20 feet. Only one of those was a 2. All others were 3s. Jaylen hard drive baseline, gets fouled on a lay in. Finally. First shot since around the 6min mark in Q3 that Boston took a shot going to the basket. 8:14 in Q4.

D White follows that up with a missed corner 3. Tie game. Tatum hard drive middle against the shot clock, misses finger roll going to the rim. Good attempt.

So from the 6min mark in Q3 to the 7min mark in Q4 Boston lost a 20pt lead. Up 20 to tie game. New ball game.

Jrue hits a 3. Timeout NY. Brunson 3. Tie game again. Jrue missed 3. Off rebound. Reset. Tatum step back 3 over Towns early in shot clock. Miss. Off rebound. Jaylen drives, gets the layup. 5min mark. Brunson baits Jaylen into a foul. 2 FTs. Tie game. Jaylen misses catch and shoot 3. Brunson nails 3 off the dribble. NY lead.

4min mark. D White misses 3 early in shot clock, decent look. Off rebound. Jrue runs it down. Hoists up quick 3 from the corner, contested. Bad shot. Misses. Timeout NY after rebound. Brunson contested step back 3, hits it. 6pt NY lead. 3:30 to go. Jaylen bullies his way to the rim and gets back to the FT line. 4pt game. Great D, forced miss, transition, Tatum in transition, gets back to the FT line. 2pt game.

2:50 to play. Brunson carry call. Turnover. Tatum gets Towns on switch, drives, interior pass, swings out, D White corner 3, hits it. BOS up 1. 2:15 to play. Another Knicks turnover. NY doing everything possible to lose this game. Another Tatum 3 off the dribble early in the shot clock. Miss. Off reb. Reset. Tatum goes again, tries to drive, cut off, step back 3, miss.

1:25 to play. Brunson drive and kick, open OG 3 corner, hits it. NY up 2. PnR Jaylen & Jrue, Jaylen draws the defenders, hits Jrue, layup. Tie game. 53 seconds. NY miss shot. Tatum step back 3 over M Robinson against the shot clock, miss. 6secs to play. Brunson Towns give and go, Brunson great look from 10 feet, misses it.

OT.

Brunson misses 2 threes on first possession of OT. BOS off a mess. Try to force it inside to Horford who has mismatch. Horford passes it out but not enough time on clock. Shot clock violation. Bridges air ball step back elbow jumper. Bridges steal, transition, OG dunk and one. First points of OT. NY up 3.

3:20 mark. Jrue misses step back 3 off the dribble. Bad shot. BOS get ball back. Tatum step back elbow J, air ball. D White rebound, misses the bunny. Bridges hits 3 on other end. 6pt lead.

2:30 to play. Tatum seals Mikal inside, good pass, layup. 4pt game. Towns tip in miss. 6pt game. 1:40 to play. Tatum gets Towns switch, drives, passes out early instead of going all the way, Jaylen passes up on 3, Horford, pump fake, takes, misses. Off reb. Jaylen open 3, hits it. 3pt lead.

1min to play. Brunson misses tough step back 21 footer. Jrue all over him. Jaylen drives down middle, contested layup, miss. NY milk clock. Take bad shot. Miss. 16secs to go. Sloppy foul on Jaylen's bad 3 point attempt. Nevermind before the shot. Side out. Timeout. Set up a play. 3secs. BOS can't inbounds. Timeout. Bridges steals it from Brown. Don't get a shot up. Game over.

Game graphic - BOS 45 missed threes in one game breaks the previous record of 40.

[Who]

On the bright side, they can't shoot that bad from 3 again. This was a freak result that is unlikely to be repeated. There is nothing in this loss that would make me fear the Knicks or believe this will be a close series.

I would not be surprised if BOS win the next 4 games for a gentleman's sweep.

[Who]

Boston's shooting.

15-60 3PTA for 25%
19-37 2PTA for 51%
22-26 FTs for 85%

So about 60% of the shots came from 3. There were a few bad attempts in there but most were good looks. They were able to create high quality shots against the Knicks defense. The shooting luck / variance just wasn't on their side last night. That bodes well for future games because those shots will fall and if they fell this would have been a blowout C's victory.

Downside is lack of recognition that the 3 point shot wasn't falling. That they didn't switch up and try to drive more. Donovan Mitchell did that the other night for Cleveland. He was stinking it up from 3 so he avoided 3s and led a huge Q3 rally attacking the paint over and over. He finished with a respectable scoring per possession number of almost 1 points per possesion despite being 1-11 from 3 because of his rim attacks (12-19 2PT FGs, 0 turnovers).

Too few rim attacks during that huge NY run from midway Q3 to midway Q4. A few more rim attacks late Q4 and OT but not enough. It was where they were getting the most joy but they were still principly looking to create a 3 off of drives rather than trying to score a driving shot.

[mef730]

I have to make a confession.

Up until tonight, when I heard about this guy named Leon Rose who was this big time agent for LeBron James & Allen Iverson, I always pictured him being black lol.

I was shocked to find out he was a short, white, Jewish guy lol.

I apologize for my racial ignorance.

On behalf of short, white Jewish guys everywhere, you are forgiven. Do 10 Shemas and an Aleinu, then go forth and sin no more.

[perks-a-beast]

Celtics tonight

That is so stupid it almost makes sense.

[celticinorlando]

Tatum was a lazy player in the 4th quarter. Missed 3 3's late to extend or take the lead and settled. He never once tried to get to the rim. A basket of any kind would have done wonders at that point but no, he decided to keep taking 3s for some reason.

Quite disappointed in him.

[jpotter33]

Hanlen and Mazzulla have ruined Tatum by encouraging his increased three point shots.

He?s simply not a good enough shooter to justify as many threes as he takes, especially as good as he is in the midrange and getting to the rim and finishing. In particular, the types of threes that Tatum takes are atrocious.

There?s a reason he was so efficient and excellent in the Magic series, which is because they took our threes away and Tatum?s shot diet was much more balanced and efficient.

[bello_man09]

On the bright side, they can't shoot that bad from 3 again. This was a freak result that is unlikely to be repeated. There is nothing in this loss that would make me fear the Knicks or believe this will be a close series.

I would not be surprised if BOS win the next 4 games for a gentleman's sweep.

I don't want them with a big league, this team thinks when you have a big deal you have to increase it by to keep launching 3s. no you have to keep playing basketball- Hopefully Knicks are close the next game, if not we can fall asleep at the wheel again and see us fighting for the game again.

[Who]

Horford had some great defensive sequences against Towns. Horford was able to stay with him on the perimeter and still challenge / alter / block Towns' shot on his drives.

Not many players can defend Towns as well as that on both the perimeter and on the drive.

[celticinorlando]

Boston played extremely arrogant basketball last night. There was no grit and heart. No edge. Nothing. Just hey we are the Celtics. Knicks need to roll over at our presence.

[Redz]

Vs. Orlando, Porzingis was 2-17 from 3 (about 12%).  Everyone else excluding Porzingis was 41% combined.  Porzingis was 41.2% from 3 in the regular season so he was way below his average.  Other than Porzingis, the Celtics actually shot very well/efficiently from 3.  They only averaged 31.2 3PA per game (well below the regular season average), but that is OK with me.  Take what they give you and be efficient.  If BOS shoots around 40% from 3, no matter if they take 30 or 50, that is going to be tough to beat.

But what the heck happened to Porzingis' shot?

It's funny KP definitely doesn't shy away from playing physically, he's just way better when he doesn't have to.

Wasn?t quite a hundred, but I had the basic sum of my fears met.  It?s been a while since a game kept me up at night.  Celts will bounce back and realize the error of their ways.  Balance it out a bit better. 

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

On the bright side, they can't shoot that bad from 3 again. This was a freak result that is unlikely to be repeated. There is nothing in this loss that would make me fear the Knicks or believe this will be a close series.

I would not be surprised if BOS win the next 4 games for a gentleman's sweep.

No offense to you or to any of the many others who've made similar comments since last night's debacle, but after I hear something like this, I think of how lots of people said the same thing after that first playoff game that Miami shot ridiculously hot against Boston ... and then Miami proceeded to keep shooting that well for multiple games.

You're probably right: this is probably an aberration that won't happen again (in this series, at least), but given what happened in that Miami series, I'm not assuming anything.

[Birdman]

Beyond me how teams especially at home can blow a 20 point lead in NBA

[Who]

Beyond me how teams especially at home can blow a 20 point lead in NBA

It happens more often these days than it used to due to the increase in three point attempts.

[celticinorlando]

Thing is if the just made 2 of those missed 40 3's they win the game.