Here's what Celtics need to do to even up playoff series with Knicks
The Boston Celtics have confidence back on their side as they look to even their second-round playoff series with the New York Knicks. Boston returned to form Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden and will have a chance to tie the series at two games apiece with a Game 4 win Monday evening.
After blowing the first two games of the series in Boston, the Celtics crushed the Knicks, 115-93, thanks to a complete team effort on Saturday. The Celtics led by as many as 31 points in Game 3, and despite letting 20-point leads disappear over the first two games, Saturday afternoon was never really in doubt.
Falling into an 0-2 series hole isn't how any team draws it up, but the Celtics have embraced their uphill climb and taken it as a challenge.
"This is the fun part. You don't get into the journey for it to be easy," head coach Joe Mazzulla said after Saturday's win. "It's been dark, but in a good way. You just got to tap into your darkness. That's it. You just got to do it."
It's a solid mindset for a team that hasn't had wade into the dark too much the last few postseasons. The Celtics didn't have to battle much adversity last season as they rolled to a championship, and this is the first time Boston has trailed in a playoff series since the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. The Celtics fell behind 0-3 in that series before storming back with three straight wins to force a deciding Game 7, which the team lost at TD Garden.
Teams coming back from a 0-2 series hole has been fairly common in the NBA, with at least one team overcoming such a deficit in each of the last four postseasons. The Celtics have overcome an 0-2 hole twice; in 2017 in the first round against the Chicago Bulls and in the 1969 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2017, Boston lost the first two games at TD Garden before winning the series in six games.
On the flip side, the Knicks let a 2-0 series lead slip away at this time last postseason, ultimately losing to the Indiana Pacers in seven games in the East semis.
While Mazzulla wants his team to embrace the darkness, there is a lot of light for the Celtics after Game 3. Here's how they can make sure it continues to shine in Game 4, and follows them home to Boston for Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Celtics need to keep spreading the love
The Celtics are really good and tough to beat when Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown take over. But the Celtics are nearly impossible to beat when the team is firing from 1-8.
Such is the case with just about any NBA team, Saturday's attack by Boston was as well-balanced as they come, as five Celtics scored at least 15 points. Payton Pritchard led the way with a postseason career-high 23 off the bench, while Tatum (22 points), Brown (19), Derrick White (17), and Al Horford (15) all hit double digits in points. Pritchard, Brown, and White each scored seven points in the first quarter, while Tatum added six, as Boston jumped out to a 16-point lead at the end of the frame. Brown and Tatum continued their onslaught in the second when the combined for 18 of Boston's 35 points, and the C's took a 25-point edge into the break.
Tatum and Brown had just 10 points in the second half, but that's when Prichard scored 10 points of his own (off 4-of-8 shooting and 2-of-4 from downtown) and White added eight to stamp out any shot of a Knicks comeback. Players without Tatum or Brown on the back of their jersey scored 74 of Boston's 115 points in Game 3.
The Celtics can win when Tatum and Brown are off their game as long as guys like Pritchard, White, and Horford take things up a notch. When Boston is creating open looks for everyone with its exquisite ball movement, it has forced New York's dynamic wing defenders OG Anunoby and Mikail Bridges to react and bounce around to everyone on the floor.
While life is usually much easier for the Celtics when Tatum or Brown light up the scoreboard, the Knicks have the defense to make sure that doesn't happen on a consistent basis. It's up to Boston to share the love and get everyone going early and often on Monday.
Make threes, win the game
Yeah, it's kinda that simple. The Celtics shot just 25 percent from three-point land in the first two games, which let the Knicks come back and steal both contests on the TD Garden floor. (Along with some incredibly stingy New York defense in the fourth quarter of both games.)
But the Celtics were on fire from downtown in Game 3, when they hit 20 of their 40 attempts from three. Tatum is just 10-of-29 from three this series, but was 5-of-9 on Saturday. Brown went 2-of-6 to improve to 5-of-23 against the Knicks.
In total, six Celtics made two or more threes in Game 3: Tatum (5), Pritchard (5-of-10), Horford (3-of-4), White (3-of-6), Jrue Holiday (2-of-3) and Brown (2).
Tatum and Brown were just 1-of-7 on their three-point attempts in the second half Saturday, but that's when the rest of the cast stepped up, as Pritchard, White, Horford, and Holiday went a combined 7-of-13 from deep.
In the first round, the Celtics beat the Orlando Magic in five games without the three-ball. The Orlando defense took the long distance strike away from Boston's offense, but it didn't really matter because the Magic's lack of firepower couldn't keep up with the rest of the Celtics offense.
The Knicks have a lot more to offer on the offensive end, so it's important for the Celtics to have the three-ball falling Monday night.
Don't let Jalen Brunson go scorched earth
Most important though is the Boston defense cannot let Jalen Brunson go off. He is a bad, bad man and has a knack for coming through in crunch time. He was the NBA's Clutch Player of the Year after leading the league with 156 points off 52 field goals made in clutch situations (the final five minutes of either the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points). The Celtics and Boston fans saw that in Game 1, when Brunson scored 11 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter.
He scored 27 on Saturday, including 15 in the second half, but Brunson got little help from anyone else. The Celtics did a great job locking down Anunoby and Bridges, who combined for just 14 points (a dozen of which came from Bridges) and missed all four of their three-point attempts.
The Celtics should keep taking away that supporting cast, but Brunson looks ready to go scorched earth on the Celtics on Monday in hopes of taking a 3-1 series lead back to Boston. The Celtics can't let him do that.
The Celtics need to keep the ball away from Brunson and see if OG, Bridges, Josh Hart, or a lost Karl Anthony-Towns can beat them. Mazzulla has had a solid ace of his sleeve with the Hack-A-Mitchchell-Robinson approach whenever it looks like the Knicks are about to go on an offensive run. The New York big man has been tough to watch at the line, but it has worked wonders for the Celtics, as Robinson hit just four of his 12 freebies in Game 3 and has connected on only seven of 23 free throws for the series.
The Celtics came out desperate in Game 3 and played one of their best games of the postseason. The win put the pressure back on the Knicks, but the Celtics have to be prepared to see that same desperation from New York on Monday night.
And they should expect to see a very angry and a very motivated Brunson, who will look to take matters into his own hands and keep Boston from evening the series at 2-2.
