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BOSTON — The New York Knicks have pulled off another remarkable feat.
Trailing by 20 points in the third quarter of both Game 1 and Game 2, they orchestrated two significant comebacks. Their game featured tremendous performances on both sides of the court, with contributions from every player in the rotation. These are back-to-back impressive victories … on the road … against the reigning NBA champions.
This latest triumph was a bit more chaotic yet equally shocking, resulting in a 92-91 win that propelled the Knicks to an unexpected 2-0 series lead over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Celtics dominated early, leading 73-53 with only 33 minutes played, but the Knicks closed out the game with a 38-17 surge in the final quarter. Jalen Brunson nailed the critical free throws with just 12.7 seconds remaining, and Mikal Bridges produced the crucial defensive play that clinched the win.
“That’s playoff basketball,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau stated after the game. “You have to keep battling. Every possession counts, and you need to play hard for all 48 minutes.”
Here are some key observations, remarks, statistics, and highlights following a thrilling few days at TD Garden …
Initially, the Knicks struggled offensively, failing to score on their first nine attempts and mustering only four points with just over four minutes left in the first quarter, managing a mere 33 points in the first and third quarters combined.
Though the Celtics’ offense didn’t fare significantly better compared to Game 1, they still led by 16 with under nine minutes to go. However, they only converted on one of their following 12 possessions, which resulted in a pair of free throws for Derrick White after a fast-break opportunity.
In their halfcourt offense, the Celtics came up empty-handed, missing 13 straight shots (including seven three-pointers) during that stretch, with five players contributing to the misses. Despite having good looks, none found the bottom of the net.
Brunson even made a couple of notable defensive stops, switching onto Jaylen Brown, who the Celtics have targeted throughout the series. However, Brown missed a jump hook and an elbow jumper over Brunson. White collected the rebound from the second miss but failed to convert a close-range tip-in.
After the Knicks unleashed a 19-2 run to go up by three, Jayson Tatum recognized the mismatch against Karl-Anthony Towns in the pick-and-roll and made his way to the free-throw line. The Celtics secured a defensive stop and finally scored a basket.
Out of a timeout, they opted to inbound the ball from the backcourt, allowing Tatum to gain momentum, utilizing an Al Horford screen at midcourt, and driving past Mitchell Robinson for the dunk that reclaimed the lead with 18.5 seconds on the clock.
After Brunson regained the lead for the Knicks by spinning past Jrue Holiday for a foul, the Celtics attempted the same play with Tatum. This time, OG Anunoby stayed engaged with the screen, and Robinson successfully stifled Tatum’s initial surge. Tatum then attempted a crossover and left drive but lost some control of the ball.
With defenders congesting the paint, he attempted a step-back jumper from the left baseline with four seconds remaining. That’s when Bridges abandoned Jaylen Brown and closed in on Tatum.
Initially, Bridges was credited with a block and a rebound, but official scoring later updated it to a steal. Tatum recognized the double-team but reacted just a fraction too late. He attempted to pass the ball back to Brown, but Bridges, with his impressive wingspan, was all over him.
On both of the Celtics’ final two possessions, the Knicks successfully removed Brunson and Towns from the game. Although Robinson struggled to contain Tatum in the first possession, the Knicks’ defensive lineup secured the ultimate stop.
“Our inability to convert in the fourth quarter was the deciding factor,” Brown stated. “Our defense was solid; we played aggressively with energy. But our offense let us down.”
The Celtics have scored a dismal 38 points over 50 possessions in the fourth quarter and overtime of this series, shooting 11-for-53 (only 21%) during that span.
While the Knicks were mounting their comeback, Bridges had yet to score by the end of the third quarter of Game 2, going 0-for-8. However, his performance was far from over.
He went on to tally 14 of the Knicks’ 30 points in the final quarter, and his six field goals outnumbered the Celtics’ total in the final 12 minutes.
Bridges started strong, scoring nine of the Knicks’ first 11 points of the period, aggressively attacking Holiday to cut the deficit to 12. The Knicks continued to give him the ball, even when the Kia Clutch Player of the Year (Brunson) returned with 6:39 left.
This strategy paid dividends as Bridges once again got past Holiday, scoring with a reverse layup to make it a 10-point game…
On the following possession, he drained a transition three-pointer.
Brunson, Towns, and Josh Hart drove the scoring afterward, but it was Bridges’ explosive fourth-quarter performance that ignited the Knicks’ comeback. He transitioned from 0-for-8 to outmaneuvering Jrue Holiday on multiple late-game possessions to guide his team to an astonishing victory—culminating in the highlight defensive play of the night.
When the final buzzer sounded on Wednesday, and without consulting the box score, identifying the top scorer would have been challenging. It wasn’t Brunson, Towns, Tatum, or Brown.
It was Josh Hart, who recorded 23 points (just one shy of his playoff career high) with an efficient 9-for-15 shooting.
The Celtics had frequently left Hart open, trusting him as the non-shooter in the Knicks’ starting lineup. Unfortunately for them, this strategy led to two of the Knicks’ 16 turnovers (as defenders would vacate Hart to double-team the Knicks’ ball-handlers) and a couple of blocks when Al Horford left Hart to help defend Towns in the post.
However, Hart has now made 11 of 25 three-point attempts (44%) during the playoffs, providing the Knicks with vital transition scoring and exploiting the Celtics’ lack of attention on him.
On Wednesday, Hart hit three out of six from beyond the arc and made himself available when the Celtics crowded Brunson.
In the fourth quarter, after setting a screen for Bridges, Hart slipped to the glass, snagged an offensive rebound, and assisted Brunson on a three-pointer that reduced the deficit to six.
Later, he drove past Horford’s closeout after the Celtics’ big man lingered in the paint, playing help defense…
“He’s extremely resourceful,” Thibodeau said. “He plays larger than he is. His rebounding and finishing skills inside are impressive. He’s put in the effort to improve his shooting. If you leave him open, he won’t think twice; he’ll shoot it with confidence. That’s incredibly important for us.”
Despite his 23-point outing in Game 2, Hart will likely continue to find himself unguarded. As a whole, the Knicks have averaged a mere 100.5 points per 100 possessions in this series, indicating that the Celtics’ defensive approach has had some effectiveness.
Moreover, New York’s prospects for securing two additional wins may hinge on Hart’s ability to hit shots and make significant plays.
Kristaps Porziņģis played only 12:58 in Game 1, missing all four of his shot attempts and missing the second half due to illness. While he was fit to play in Game 2, he came off the bench for the first time this season.
Porziņģis managed eight points on 3-for-5 shooting, including a key dunk to commence the fourth quarter. However, he appeared to still struggle with some ailment.
Shortly after that dunk, he signaled to the bench that he needed to be substituted. He exited the game with 8:27 remaining, having logged just 13:53 while the Celtics were outscored by nine points (scoring only 23 points on 26 offensive possessions) during that span.
The Celtics have now become the first team in the last 29 years, according to available play-by-play data, to lose multiple playoff games in which they led by at least 20 points.
The increase in three-point attempts over the past 15 years has contributed to fluctuations from quarter to quarter, but not excessively. Consequently, teams with leads of 20 points or more this season have a winning record of 590-34 (.946).
It’s particularly troubling that the team first to squander two playoff leads of 20-plus points is the one that dominated the postseason last year, never feeling pressured en route to the championship. One would expect an absence of doubt with 18 championship banners displayed overhead.
Yet, it is the same Celtics who, last season, didn’t experience more than one loss in any series, falling apart in consecutive playoff matches this year. The past 51 hours have delivered more twists and turns than their entire playoff journey toward the 2023-24 title.
“It’s a chance to demonstrate our character,” Brown noted. “Clearly, we wouldn’t want to find ourselves in this situation, but here we are. We must respond accordingly.”
As the Celtics head to New York, they carry the knowledge that they’ve historically performed better on the road than at home. During the regular season, they outperformed opponents by an average of 9.5 points per 100 possessions when playing away from Boston, marking the second-best road performance in the past 29 years of available data.
They aren’t finished yet, but they’ll need to display their championship resolve in Game 3 on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) at Madison Square Garden.
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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst at NBA.com. You can reach him via email, find his archives here, and follow him on X.
The opinions expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA, its teams, or Warner Bros. Discovery.
