The Boston Celtics blew a 20-point lead last night to shockingly drop Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semis to the New York Knicks. The Knicks took away home-court advantage behind 29 points each from OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson, while the Celtics jacked up 60 threes, making only 15 of them. That’s the most ever missed threes in an NBA playoff game, and the blame can be spread to everyone wearing green and white, as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White combined to go just 10-41.
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Nineteen of the 20 field goals that the Celtics attempted in the third quarter were threes, and their ice-cold shooting let the Knicks get back into the game. Even so, Joe Mazzulla’s team had its chances to win down the stretch and in overtime, but they let it get away.
Now the Knicks have a 1-0 lead after losing all four regular season meetings to Boston, and their first win in 11 attempts against the teams (Thunder, Cavs, and Celtics) with the three best records in the league.
Jaylen Brown spoke after the game about what went wrong, saying, “We can’t just fire up threes. To break up momentum, you gotta get to the free throw line, get to the paint, get to the basket. Hit some free throws, and then maybe the next three-pointer feels a little bit better.
The Inside the NBA guys had a great time with that quote, especially Shaquille O’Neal, who taunted, “You couldn’t think of that during the game?”
Charles Barkley couldn’t believe it when he heard that the Celtics only attempted one non-three in the third quarter. “That’s gotta be one of the stupidest damn stats I ever heard,” Chuck said. “Nineteen out of 20 shots were threes. Come on man, ain’t nobody that dumb, Ernie.”
The Celtics played the dumbest they could have and only lost by three
Despite the loss and the embarrassing shot selection, the Celtics still have to feel good about their chances in this series. They’re the defending champs and were big favorites coming in, and one loss isn’t going to shake their confidence, especially when they know what needs to be done in Game 2.
It’s clear that the Knicks came prepared for a fight, and the Celtics, who shot and made more threes in the regular season than any team in the league, thought they could just chuck it with reckless abandon and come away with a win.
This is the playoffs. The regular season and whatever worked in it is gone. We’ve already seen that as the underdogs have won Game 1 of every second-round series so far. The Thunder, Cavs, and Celtics combined to go 193-53 in the regular season, and now they’re each in an 0-1 hole.
Barkley joked as the segment ended that as an old-school guy, he would have had a different gameplan than the Celtics employed. “I’m just a big ‘Get off my lawn” guy,” he said. “I woulda just passed it down low to me and Shaq, our big fat asses… or just keep missing damn 19 out of 20 threes, you damn dummies.”
Joe Mazzulla has a simple fix to get this series back on track. The Celtics aren’t going to stop shooting from outside, that’s who they are. But they can get much better looks if Tatum and Brown take the ball to the basket. Easy twos will open up the floor, allow the Celtics to get to the free throw line, and avoid going on a prolonged cold spell against a team that they know they’re better than. We’ll see if they make the adjustment in Game 2 on Wednesday.
