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Game Thread

2025 Round 2 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Celtics, Game 3 – Hard Times In New York Town

The hard times will be for the Celtics in New York Town, as the Knicks host the Celtics after the defending NBA champs blew 20-point leads in BACK-TO-BACK playoff games for the first time in NBA history, and the Knicks are set to take a commanding 3-0 lead on the Celtics.

The Garden will be DEAFENING with crowd noise, and let’s hope that the Knicks give them something to cheer about. This is the biggest game of the season. A title run could really start right here with a win, so let’s hope that the Knicks are up to the task. It would be hilarious to go 0-4 against the Celtics in the regular season, and then sweep them 4-0, right?

Let’s go, Knicks!

Only 10 more wins to go!

The Dylan tune is, well, “Hard Times in New York Town.” It’s from The Bootleg Series.

265 replies on “2025 Round 2 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Celtics, Game 3 – Hard Times In New York Town”

We have the defense that was promised, now to revitalize that 1st month offense.

I want to see Ben Stiller and Spike Lee leaping up and down in joy a lot!

I’ll take a W any way the Knicks can, but prefer to not have a down to the last possession game.

#.. but prefer to not have a down to the last possession game.#

I Do!
I’ve become addicted to this kind of shit!
I almost expect it!!!!
;-p

#Another star student of mine 🙂#

My mantra of the series is: *Don’t dig holes – Stay Close* so… despite not avoiding the holes i do enjoy the comin to the Celtics back so far! Up Close and Very Personal!!!

I don’t get the Game 3 is a must win for the Knicks talk at all. For me Knicks just have to be up 3-1 after Game 4, it doesn’t matter how they get there. Losing today won’t diminish the Knicks confidence or have any psychological bullshit effect on them, this team has proven already they’re plenty mentally tough.

The psychological effect would be on the Celtics if they fell down 3-0.

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3-0 is a good chance to *finish* this series
3-1 too
And if you want my opinion a ny4-3 at the last second of the 7th game would be just fine!

I don’t know what to make of today.

It’s clearly the most important game (for now?) of the 21st century for our beloved Knicks, but my rational mind tells me there’s no way we can really win this series. Anyway, I’ve seen weirder things in my life (such as Italy going for a silver medal ahead of USA in ‘04), so let’s just bask in the moment!

X-Factor for this game: Deuce. Maybe he can go for 20 on a 6-8 barrage from three?

I definitely believe the Knicks can win this series now but I can’t fathom sweeping Boston which is why I’m not that obsessed with having to win today.

I was going full Pags at the end of the last thread, but since then i went for a short 5 mile hike and i’m optimistic again.

LET’S WIN THIS !!! 🧡💙

I don’t think it’s accidental that we’re mostly healthy and we hired the whole Mavs health and fitness team in the off season

Would be nice for the Knicks to have a game where they actually make some shots.

I hate this start, Brunson’s play more than anything, but it’s the end that matters…

Let’s go!

Not much to like so far, but I do like the energy Mikal is playing with. So there’s that.

An early deficit felt kind of inevitable now just need to settle down and make some shots.

Knicks are getting pretty good shots – and outshooting Boston from deep.

Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Brunson muscle someone quite like that

I don’t like to make fun of people’s appearances, but Derrick White in profile is hilarious

Deuce, Mitch, an OG together – this should be a good defensive group

“Maybe the other team will start missing all their shots” is gonna have to be the strategy

First quarter deficits are usually meaningless but they’re taking it to us right now.

ha, i’m a bit behind on the broadcast…so far though – it looks like just about every other knick game in recent memory: grueling coin flip matchup…

We are keeping pace with 3PT volume but can’t hit a damn shot. Everything is close, including Mitch’s free throws.

A professional basketball player shouldn’t be so bad at shooting free throws, it’s… unprofessional
Fuck you.

Iso-Brunson is not exactly the greatest offensive assault, but then you watch some of these other guys try to score or make plays and it’s like yeah, I understand why they do iso-Brunson

Towns gets less respect from the refs than any star player ever in human history in any sport.

By the way, I posted during Games One and Two that I would rather have a pigeon shit in my mouth while I listen to Mike Breen, than to have to bear another game called by the dreaded Kevin Harlan. To whoever worked out this magic, I say thank you for the little miracles. Must be the National Prime Time deal.
Yes, I am currently eating pigeon shit and loving it.

so many errors. half the team thinks we went back to drop and the rest thinks we’re still switching

Look, some of this is just us missing good shots and them making a few tough shots

As predicted game over by end q1. Amazing how there isn’t even any variance to it

so many errors. half the team thinks we went back to drop and the rest thinks we’re still switching

That was on Jalen, he should known better with Mitch behind him

There’s something wrong when Precious Achiuwa is your best player in a playoffs game.

P.S. Fuck you again Mitch

That was on Jalen, he should known better with Mitch behind him

i’ve got 4 flubbed so far including 3 with kat

Mitch mush have skipped geometry class the day they discussed parabolas.

I just can’t believe how much more comfortable opposing teams are playing at MSG than the Knicks, a far cry from the Pat Riley days…

This. Is. embarrassing. The defense is atrocious. No 2nd efforts, just lazy and dumb defense.

ben wallace is the only player to ever take 30 plus free throws in a postseason and shoot under 30pct at 27.3%. mitch is 7-30

Several shots that went halfway down and rimmed out.

Couple of very questionable foul calls.

Every 50/50 ball went against us.

Several brain lapses.

33% free throw shooting. Opponent shooting 86% from 3pt.

Certainly some of this is due to regress to the mean?

Deuce has got to stop Pritchard there.

C’mon, Knicks. Putting in the pizza order.

Let’s get into it. Re-set.

#Pritchard one of the three finalists for Most Punchable Face#

He gets my vote easily

Btw, for all the Mitch hate, dude is still making an impact on the glass and with his energy.

Don’t like the whistle today, feels inconsistent. KAT’s second was bullshit.

Pritchard one of the three finalists for Most Punchable Face

There’s only one finalist and it’s Kyle Kuzma. But Pritchard isn’t a bad runner up

One thing we definitely need in the off season is someone that can box out and rebound.

And shoot threes. We’re 1-7 so far. Boston is 6-8.

#Pritchard one of the three finalists for Most Punchable Face#

You’d be singing his praises if he was on the knicks.

If you shoot 0% from the free throw line, you’re just not a playable NBA player

Mitch has a point! Mitch has a point!

Just one, but it’s a point!

I don’t hate Mitch, I just think his regression at the line over the years is a shame.

I guess Kornet having a handful of MR’s jersey on the O rebound doesn’t count…

These refs must want to make sure the Knicks don’t sweep. It’s fucking unbelievable. This is MSG and we can’t get the benefit of the whistle.

The fouls are coming on offensive rebounds, so it’s not as terrible that he’s missing them since we wouldn’t have the ball without him anyway

You’d be singing his praises if he was on the knicks

Of course, he’s just annoying.
I fully expect Celticsblogger has seen similar comments about Josh Hart. Or Cam Payne, though Cam Payne isn’t actually good.

Well, we have them right where we want them.

This is when they start missing every single shot.

I don’t hate Mitch, I just think his regression at the line over the years is a shame.

At some point the coaches had to step in an force him to change his no arc style.

Maybe they want the 20pt comeback in a row record? That’s the best i’ve got!

Remember what I said about Bridges looking like he had good energy?

Never mind.

Offense was terrible first two games, glad to see we’ve made adjustments

the good news is if we do come back they’ll probably forfeit game 4

I think I saw Towns say “I broke it”. He may have a broken finger. I hope I read his lips wrong.

Offense was terrible first two games, glad to see we’ve made adjustments

Celtics defense is very good, but Thibs is a joke. Mark Jackson could probably get more offense out of this talent.

This really was the worst possible turn of events. We STILL have no chance to win the series because we run the worst offense in the NBA and all the Celtics need to blow us out is a 10th percentile performance instead of a 5th percentile.

All we won in thise first two games was the prolonged agony of losing an extended seres to a comeback that everyone will suck the Celtics’ collective dick over and worse, we’ve locked on Thibs horrendous non-offense to ensure we never poke our heads out of the mezzanine again until circa 2040. Fuck this, I’m taking a nap.

hmmmm, while i’m thinking of it, i’ll ask again later – any of you other young dad’s ( 🙂 ) out there do the gopro stuff for the kids sporting events?

boys’ basketball season coming, camera’s been gathering dust, but need to get smart on it…

mikal passing on threes and contact every touch

He’s been very keen on trading layups for blocked shots

There have been some bad calls here, but this matchup continues to look like checkers vs chess. The Celtics just get better looks because they’re a better passing team and make more effective basketball plays.

The only way we beat them is if they’re beat themselves.

OG has been MIA.
Long way to go, would be good to get it under 15 by the half.

KAT’s robbed putback was a major swing, he totally fucked our little momentum.

They’re picking over KAT’s dessicated remains at this point

Their defense is good, but our offense is a lazy joke.
And they were due a good shooting night.

Very very many of these 3pt attempts by Boston have hardly even been contested.

Knicks basically digging coal on offense while the Celtics watching their portfolios make money on auto-pilot.

The defense has been dog shit. The offense looks like it’s normal.discombobulation

To give credit where it’s due, everyone on the Celtics has played great, minus perhaps KP who probably shouldn’t be out there.

Give the rookies some playoff burn in the second half?

Well they can never take those two fluke wins away from us

We should hang a banner that says “2025, had a 2-0 lead in the Conference Semis”

Every single player with the exception of perhaps Hart, is playing like odorous excrement. The effort has left a LOT to be desired on the defensive end

Celtics offense feels like risk free arbitrage…

Ours feels, ahh, North Korean

Im not feeling a comeback this time around because refs are making sure Celtics get this one along with terrible Knicks offense scheme finally getting exposed.

Celtics were due to hit some threes because it’s all they do but the lack of effort is concerning.

I also knew we were going to lose because ESPN coverage with Burke and Jefferson is like a curse for us

You knew they were going to play better. You have the offensive fire power to stay w them. You needed the offense to come through today. It didn’t. If it doesn’t we will lose the series.

This feels so much like regular season Knicks-Celtics games. Like we don’t belong on the same court as them.

Brunson not getting it done.

KAT can’t buy a FT

Mikal keeps fading back into blocked shots. They’ve figured it out, take it to the basket.

OG isn’t good enough on offense to take advantage of these defenders.

BS every single player of ours is playing like shit. KAT is playing great on offense.

Celtics 25% from 3 first two games. 63% today. If I needed an example for what “high variance” means…

I remember the days I used to think the 3 point shot was a terrific innovation.

OG and Mikal have been harassing the Celtics dribblers.

KAT and Brunson finally being exploited. Brunson is too slow and short to cover ground in rotation.

Doubling and getting put in rotation isn’t ideal, neither is confusing switch, hedge and drop coverage.

It’s like Van Gundy used to say: “the game doesn’t start until the knicks are down twenty”

It’s smart to let the Celtics get all the good 3 point shooting out of their stystems

The reason folks felt like winning today was critical is bc we didn’t play well in Boston. We certainly earned both wins but they didn’t happen in a way that is repeatable.

The Celtics are a team can beat us ten times out of ten if they play their best and we play ours. Today felt important bc if we lose it means the Celtics probably self corrected.

but they didn’t happen in a way that is repeatable.

Even though they were repeated

I thought the offense in the first quarter was fine, the shots just didn’t fall. The second quarter was garbage.

Even if we lose here, they’re as unlikely to shoot 60% from 3 in every game as sub-30%. We only need 2 more below average shooting performances from them or a good one from us.

That said, I don’t feel easy about our chances either way

Reminder that the Celtics shot 37% from deep in the regular season. Their performance the first two games was closer to their average than this first half.

We got away from what made us a good offensive team early in the season. Slowly, gradually, we started playing worse and worse offensive basketball. We were an elite eFG% team at one point and ended the season 9th in that very important stat.

That trend continues. This is a dreadful looking offensive team. We were able to beat a green Detroit team in a rock fight in the first round, and we were the beneficiaries of two shocking collapses by Boston in this round.

But let not kid ourselves. This offense is fugly. Irredeemable. Maybe the Celtics will start missing every shot again. That’s pretty much all we got.

Good to see we came out with intensity, ready to play, a sense of urgency because of their big lead

That might have been the first time Brunson passed to Hart after a pick in the series.

At this point a fake comeback is best case scenario. I’d take a 10 point loss.

Just get it to within 20 with five minutes to go in this quarter and we are in the same scenario.

That might have been the first time Brunson passed to Hart after a pick in the series.

He did it once in game 1, I think, where it bounced off Harts hands and got stolen. So there was that at least…

I thought the offense in the first quarter was fine, the shots just didn’t fall. The second quarter was garbage.

I felt the same way

He did it once in game 1, I think, where it bounced off Harts hands and got stolen. So there was that at least…

They did it in the first half and got 2 points on it

Is there any data showing we play better in games sponsored by Wingstop and not Chipotle.

i am no longer live…i’ve now not so quietly snuck out of the lobby…

watched Thunderbolts last night, unfair, but compared it to other comic book “anti-heroes” teaming up to save the day…

man, that first guardians of the galaxy was awesome, the second suicide squad pretty solid…

it was okay…slow with underwhelming antagonists…i found it enjoyable, notable characters like red guardian and the winter soldier…then again, i am most likely part of the prime target demographic for that sort of stuff, soooo…

just checked the score – yikes…

Not sure why OG and Bridges decided to play patty-cake there

Celtics have dominated 90% of the 140 minutes of this series and are still down 0-2, just saying

After OG was incredible in game 1
Boston started forcing him to his left and he’s had just 2 FGs since.

These refs must want to make sure the Knicks don’t sweep. It’s fucking unbelievable. This is MSG and we can’t get the benefit of the whistle.

Remember that MSG is owned by Dolan. And if they can fill 20,000 seats at $700 per on average, you know who takes in the $14,000,000, right?

I don’t expect OG to be great in every game, but I do expect that from Brunson.

Oh well…. Need all the guys to show up better for game 4.

Really feels like we should get the starters out but it’s a Thibs team. What’s the over under on how much time left when we see the Kolek krew? 3:35 in the 4th?

Brunson D-
Towns F
Hart C
Bridges C-
Mitch C-
OG – C-
Deuce — who?
Payne – who?
Precious – hii

The Knicks look awful and everything is going wrong, but sometimes the answer is basically 15-29 vs 2-17. Regress both and it’s basically a one possession game.

Maybe the Celtics will be overconfident for game 4?

Sorry that’s all I got.

This is clearly to hurt his confidence ..
No strategy reason
.. fuck you Celtics!

Could it be Mitch only ever shoots free throws in games, so this is somehow helping him.

You’d think that the Knicks would try to get more 3s up given how far behind they are.

That was definitely the first time Brunson passed to Mitch after a pick. Like, ever.

You need to be way more competitive than this, this is what you come home to show the fans.

Obviously game 4 is for all the marbles. If we lose, series over and if we win, excellent chance of advancing.

Obviously game 4 is for all the marbles. If we lose, series over and if we win, excellent chance of advancing.

Looking at how bad this team is at home. As I said before outside of the Cam Payne explosion in game 1 in the 4th has this team shown a pulse at home..

series price was

-110 both sides before today’s game

Willing to bet it will be +350 Knicks now

It’s not going to happen but it would break the internet if the Knicks came back again.

Obviously game 4 is for all the marbles. If we lose, series over and if we win, excellent chance of advancing.

Feels that way but I’m not so sure. I think we can win a game 7 in Boston. IMO we just need to win one of the next 3.

Towns should do yoga or something for better flexibility. His size should be a clear advantage, but he is completely uncoordinated most of the time. And I’m sure his flailing does not help perception with the refs to earn calls.

ShwinnyPooh, Hukporti island resident
@shwinnypooh

That last play from KAT is the shit idk who you want to blame for.

They doubled Jalen and if he just pops to the top of the key he’s gonna get a wide open 3 from his money spot. Instead he rolls to just inside the arc and then puts up some bullshit.

Either way, not ideal.

Jonah Tong pitched a perfect game with 13 strikeouts for AA Binghamton today. Well, they pulled him with one batter left because of pitch count and the reliever got the last out, but still.

This is one day after Nolan McLean dominated his first AAA start. Tong, McLean, and Sproat are all knocking on the door and they’ll also get Christian Scott back next year. The big league club leads the majors in ERA despite getting zero innings from their #2 and #4 starters.

Pretty amazing what Jeremy Hefner and the Mets are pulling off right now with starting pitchers organization-wide.

Brown was pushing off the whole possession, how do they not see that?

Imagine if they somehow blew a 20 point lead in four minutes!

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What the Knicks can’t do is let Payton fucking Pritchard beat them. Brown and Tatum will get theirs but letting him get going is gonna lead to disaster.

Everyone needs to bring better effort including OG who looked lost out there. Monday can’t come soon enough

Sometimes I wonder if Towns is sleeping with all the refs wives.

I don’t follow a lot of sports closely anymore but I’d say NBA refs are on the same level as boxing judges. Politics and money definitely impact the reffing/judging. I’m so certain of it at this point, I’m probably going to start including it in my betting lines. I know that’s true for boxing so I do include it.

What the Knicks can’t do is let Payton fucking Pritchard beat them. Brown and Tatum will get theirs but letting him get going is gonna lead to disaster.

Pritchard is a better shooter than either of those guys. He has been one all season.

Not a particularly great effort from anyone, but Wingstop were awful.

The Knick offense has just entirely stagnated.

How you can’t bring the proper energy into a game like today will always amaze me.

Everyone was awful, minus the non impactful stat padding in the 2nd half. This game was lost in the first half with the lazy, dumb undisciplined defense. We only beat the Celtics if we can play great D and get turnovers. Our half court O leaves MUCH to be desired

Our half court O leaves MUCH to be desired

Thibs offense leave alot to be desired

20-40 from 3 is insane. It’s like hey you know the team is gonna shoot 3s, maybe idk make a defensive scheme to stop it? All season Thibs has let the Celtics shoot those 3s…

Everything went wrong but I also blame the 3:30 start (less rowdy crowd) and the awful announcing team save for Breen of course

I am very disappointed with the way we came out today. Yes, Boston is more talented, deeper, and shoots better than us; but the way we played them in the first half gave us no chance. What the fuck happened to perimeter defense? It reminded me of the first three regular season games we played against them. Switches were messed up, if there at all, and the absolute majority of their threes were wide open and in-rhythm; not just lucky open shots after a broken play but resulting from breaking down our defense. It cannot get any worse against this team. Yes, our offense was bad, but offense is not the only reason, not even the main reason we lost. They dropped 71 on us in the first two quarters! Up by 25! This is unacceptable, particularly when you don’t have it on offense. Boston felt like the more desperate team, more aggressive, more physical, and first to lose balls.

Things were a tad better in the second half, and we played them pretty much even, but it was too late. Boston was not willing to give the game away. The psychology of the series has now changed, and game four is a must win for us if we want to pull up the upset. But we cannot afford yet another miserable start like today.

but I also blame the 3:30 start (less rowdy crowd)

Are you sure its not because the real fans are priced out…

Everyone was awful,

Honestly everyone was just as awful in game 2, the Celtics just hit their shots this time.

Pritchard is a better shooter than either of those guys. He has been one all season.

Yeah, Pritchard is a BIG part of their offense.

By Post Author

if thibs isn’t helping the offense

And he won’t defend the 3

How is helping his team?

Did the Magic have a better offense in round 1 with Cory Joseph playing PG?

Game 4 will say everything about this team. It will say everything about Thibs, about how Brunson can run the team (I thought he played bad today despite the points), and how willing they are do something different to get different results. KAT has a lot to prove too.

Limiting Boston to 40 3PAs a game is not bad. They managed that 2 out of 3 times. The Knicks should probably be in the 30-35 range to be competitive though.

1. The game was reffed like they had action on Boston not like it was at MSG.

2. We came out very tight, they hit their 3s early and we never really recovered.

3. Neither Bridges or OG played with the same defensive intensity as in Boston.

4. I think the offensive game plan was atrocious. Thibs is a total joke. Unless Boston is missing and we can get into our offense quickly, we have no real offense. I fully understand that Boston’s defense was very good, but there are probably 25 coaches in the NBA and 5 that are retired that could get a better offense out of this team.

5. I think we’ll play a lot better in game 4. Hopefully, we won’t be as tight early and can hang around until late and then close better than them.

Macri says fans should demand a refund

Knicks had a 80 offensive rating in the halfcourt..

Hot take: we don’t have to win game 4, either.

We can win a game 7 in Boston, especially if it’s close.

We just need to beat them in one out of the next three.

I mean, I would be mad if I had payed 700 bucks for this game.

What is the offensive plan at this point? Attack Horford? I’m at a loss.

Game 4 is so important. They need to beat the Celtics in a game where the Celtics aren’t shooting oddly terribly from three.

EDITED TO ADD:

We just need to beat them one time straight up without them handing it to us. If we can’t do that in 6 tries…

Yeah, basically that.

By Post Author

Two options here

bench Hart and start Mitch

Or you bench Hart and start McBride

Well Huk was 35 pts/36 and 35 rebounds/36 so there’s that.

Silver linings can be hard sometimes.

The consensus here was that we didn’t really play very well in games 1 and 2, but managed to win anyway because Boston also played poorly. The hope was that we could play better in game 3.

Now, I don’t really know. CAN we play much better than this? We make everything look incredibly difficult. They get tons of baskets off broken plays and quick cuts and smart passes, and we try to counter by making low percentage drives to the basket and looking for fouls that don’t come. We don’t have reliable perimeter shooting and don’t attempt many threes anyway, don’t have an inside game, and almost never get easy buckets. Everything is contested and difficult.

I mean, what exactly is the plan here? I don’t really see any plan other than “hope the other team goes ice cold and we beat them in miracle fashion.”

It was a fun ride, but it kinda feels like the carriage is turning into a pumpkin here.

It’s been 4 months that the offense has not been up to par.

Macri noted this

I will point out that in the first quarter almost every shot we took went in, but then a fucking leprechaun hiding in the net smacked it back out again. Over and over and over again. It’s like that deflated the players.

Over and over and over again. It’s like that deflated the players.

The team is at home up 2-0. Play defense. That’s mental midget behavior

Well deserved reality check.
If these two teams play at the best there’s a 12-15 points advantage for the Celtics.

If Boston plays close to their best and we play like shit the gap swells to 30 points and don’t let the final score fool you, garbage time started at halftime, JB and KAT stuffed their stats when the game was over.

The warning signs were there from the start: Knick’s second offensive set of the game, lazy pass from Brunson to KAT, Tatum steal, missed the shot, nobody got back, White took the rebound and scored.

How can you look so unprepared in games like this, and how one of the best offenses in the League can decay to this level in a few months will always be a secret for me.

Thankfully at the end it’s just one game, the next one starts 0-0. They’re clearly the best team but let’s try to do better.

How can you look so unprepared in games like this, and how one of the best offenses in the League can decay to this level in a few months will always be a secret for me.

Opposing center on Josh Hart or nobody defending him. It’s been happening and Thibs knows this, but it gets ignored.

Also because of Hart The Knicks never truly play 5 out. The point of getting Towns was to play 5 out lineups.

Sheesh, who needs Devin Williams to throw the game away when there’s always a willing reliever ready to do it?

Mitch was a minus 3 despite the foul shooting issues and has been by far the Knicks most impact player with on/off

I think you can even start him because it puts Boston in foul trouble and you can pull him after.

Let’s not pretend that this is a typical Celtics game. It’s not.

Games 1 and 2, feels like both teams played poorly offensively (Knicks shot well – but not spetacurlarly well – from deep in Game 1 but was poor otherwise).

Game 3 was a way above average shooting game for Boston and a well below average shooting game from the Knicks.

I’d actually like to see an average shooting game from both teams at some point.

For the series, shooting from deep is a wash – 33% for New York and 32% for Boston (on 50% higher volume).

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