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.
320 replies on “2025 Round 2 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Celtics, Game 3 – Hard Times In New York Town”
Knicks by 33. Let’s go!
We have the defense that was promised, now to revitalize that 1st month offense.
Let us GO!
LET’S GO KNICKS! 🏀🧡💙🧡🏀
Let’s get the “House Money Game” and finish it!
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
kp getting his first rest early
#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.
Get this one, boys.
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!
Horford starting for KP.
No 20 point holes today please.
Go NY go NY go!!!!
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?
Breeeeeeeen!
What can I say…the chant “knicks in 4” is Top!
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.
Let’s go NY!
No houser…we got this
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 !!! 🧡💙
Zarba and Doris
What can go wrong?!?
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
Feed the Kat! Meow!
Okay, digging that early hole…
Meeeeeeeooooooowwwwww!!!
Would be nice for the Knicks to have a game where they actually make some shots.
Does MSG have wider rims?
So far according to plan
I hate this start, Brunson’s play more than anything, but it’s the end that matters…
Let’s go!
Motherfuckin rim
lid on the rim….
Edit: what he said
Not much to like so far, but I do like the energy Mikal is playing with. So there’s that.
So many missed shots when they were halfway down.
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.
nerves early. lots of mistakes.
Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Brunson muscle someone quite like that
Amazing how opposing teams just love shooting at MSG.
I don’t like to make fun of people’s appearances, but Derrick White in profile is hilarious
Crazy sequence
jesus mikal come on
How is that a shooting foul?
Rain is coming…
Deuce, Mitch, an OG together – this should be a good defensive group
Knicks playing like garbage at MSG is becoming tiresome…
15p down
5more and we’re going to kick their ass
Security, Help!
12 points. 12!!!!
I guess home court, apparently means jack squat
“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…
Com on Boomerang Knicks!
Come back from this early hole!
It’s up to Brunson to step up. He’s shooting 35% in the series
We are keeping pace with 3PT volume but can’t hit a damn shot. Everything is close, including Mitch’s free throws.
dang, just read the comments above, shoot, maybe i should fast forward…
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.
Wanna see a replay on that, don’t see a foul
Precious 1st quarter mins????
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.
Some bullshit calls going down in this MF
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
Achiuwa is Here!
As predicted game over by end q1. Amazing how there isn’t even any variance to it
That was on Jalen, he should known better with Mitch behind him
MY Precious!!!
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
Only down 16
Feels like 32
We have this!
This is why you practice schemes in the regular season…
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.
Pritchard one of the three finalists for Most Punchable Face
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?
The Knicks offense is the story of the series actually
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.
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.
Let’s get down 20 early
Another chance at redemption
And shoot threes. We’re 1-7 so far. Boston is 6-8.
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
Challenge the in the motion call
good crowd work
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…
Phew this is rough
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
Stop playing like shit.
We’re just not very good at anything
We are terrible on the boards.
Some bad calls really killed whatever good things they had going.
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.
Mitchell is having a very bad game on all fronts
At some point the coaches had to step in an force him to change his no arc style.
KAT is once again invisible.
Get it down to 10 by halftime.
At least three blown calls, at home, stinks
live now…well, the celtics are a good team, and hella desperate…
We are playing scared and stupid.
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.
at least being down so much makes this not so stressful a viewing…
Offense was terrible first two games, glad to see we’ve made adjustments
Geo – word
the good news is if we do come back they’ll probably forfeit game 4
Down 20, it’s on!!!
That’s it, gents. Chip away. Don’t rush.
I think I saw Towns say “I broke it”. He may have a broken finger. I hope I read his lips wrong.
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.
Terrible call. That should be automated
Horseshit call.
Another blown call
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…
Another robbery call on Towns’ putback
mikal passing on threes and contact every touch
Mikal seems obsessed with taking the hardest possible shots
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.
like what is kat doing there is he fucking switching or not
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.
Kats been atrocious in D
Our 3pt defense sucks elephant dongs
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
Knicks offense has been abject garbage this series.
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…
Just somehow win Game 4.
Brunson should be embarrassed.
“Largest halftime deficit in Knicks post season history.” Ummm.
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.
Even though they were repeated
“Well, that’s just like, your *opinion, man.”
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.
It’s a beautiful day might have to go outside and enjoy it
Good to see we came out with intensity, ready to play, a sense of urgency because of their big lead
If I was a Celtics fan I’d be starting to sweat
OMG Anunoby has zero points so far.
We’re 2-16 from 3pt.
Variance giveth, variance taketh away
Down to 25!!
There we go, settle for that 3 Brown
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.
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 felt the same way
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.
Disgusting Brunson game.
Not to scapegoat, but Cap: WTF!
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
We need to fire Nerlens Noel from coaching hands
Celtics have dominated 90% of the 140 minutes of this series and are still down 0-2, just saying
uncle
I have switched to watching the Yankees losing to the As
OG sick of it and trying to do too much now
After OG was incredible in game 1
Boston started forcing him to his left and he’s had just 2 FGs since.
Knicks sloppiness suggests they think they are up by 30 not down.
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?
Somehow the offense got even worse in the third quarter
Thank God we still have road court advantage
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.
Is 11% from three for the team good?
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.
Landry Shamet can’t get burn for three point shots?
Obviously game 4 is for all the marbles. If we lose, series over and if we win, excellent chance of advancing.
This loss is as predictable as any loss in Knicks playoff history.
The second game might be even worse.
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..
aaron judge just hit his 2nd home run, that was pretty cool
To bad it’s only solo shots, but yeah
Tatum must be the lowest IQ star out there.
series price was
-110 both sides before today’s game
Willing to bet it will be +350 Knicks now
Down to 20!!
It’s not going to happen but it would break the internet if the Knicks came back again.
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.
Yankees back in the lead
KP still can’t post up dudes a foot shorter
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?
I think that’s it
Imagine if they somehow blew a 20 point lead in four minutes!
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.
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
well, at least Hukporti’s knee looks healthy.
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
Hukporti is back! I thought he was done for the season.
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.
Are you sure its not because the real fans are priced out…
Honestly everyone was just as awful in game 2, the Celtics just hit their shots this time.
Yeah, Pritchard is a BIG part of their offense.
if thibs isn’t helping the offense
And he won’t defend the 3
How is helping his team?
Just find a way to win Game 4.
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.
Woof
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.
Thibs is reverting to Moneyball again.
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:
Yeah, basically that.
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.
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.
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).
The Knicks offense wasn’t good against the Pistons either.
The thing the Celtics create good shots consistently, even if they don’t hit them. That doesn’t seem like something we can do.
It’s 9 playoff games now and our offense looks like the Julius Randle team in 2021.
We trailed the entire game and still shot 25 3PA to their 40.
Even if we matched their shooting percentage on 3’s that would still be like an 8 point hole we would have to make up somewhere else. We’re not really elite at anything, so spotting your opponent a massive edge in 3PA is just a recipe for failure. You have to hope they completely shit the bed on those attempts.
If the Celtics were even remotely decent on 3PA in games 1 and 2 this would easily be 3-0. There are only so many miracles that are going to get gifted to you.
I agree, but they still shot .365 from deep.
The Knicks shot .369 from deep over the season, to Boston’s .368, and that’s with Hart starting almost every game. On a per shot basis, I don’t think Boston generates higher quality. They just generate these shots more consistently and win due to volume.
In the first quarter the shots were there. We missed them. We need to expect to have to beat them w offense at some point. Doesn’t seem like we can.
https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1921336541504315499?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet this is dumb
The Celtics have 1 through 9 good to great 3-point shooters. This is a rare luxury and the Knicks don’t have it in their offense. We cannot out-duel them on offense. We just need to be better on defense. Much better. We can’t afford to allow them so many wide open looks time after time. Our first half 3pt defense today was horrendous.
The 3PA problem is a huge one, but it’s more than just that. Boston scores so many baskets off of broken plays, sets up so many plays with smart passes, and are just good at opportunistically cashing in when the opponent makes mistakes. 3PA aside, it just really seems like they get so many more easy baskets.
Maybe this is an eye test thing and I’m off base here. But really, it seems like the vast majority of our buckets come from somebody going one on one and hitting a difficult, well-defended shot. That can really only take you so far. I get that it’s the playoffs, and that easy shots are a lot more difficult to come by, but it seems like we very rarely get easy buckets.
The game plan of “show up and hope the Celtics fuck themselves over” was bound to fail at some point. That doesn’t mean it won’t work in the longest run.
That’s exactly what I said 🙂
Our percentage is just as good but we can’t create at the same rate they do. They have a system. We’re just winging it.
So when they set an NBA record for misses and we have a good shooting night, we just win by 1. And when they shoot well, they kill us.
This is the wrong reading of those numbers. Boston takes more threes by more players. They have the roster to do that. They can afford to continue shooting from deep all the time, and, if one or two players don’t have it in a particular game, others will. We take fewer threes because we don’t have such offensive variance. One could say this is the smart way to go because the roster is what it is.
They have scored a lot off OREBs and they were pretty middling in OREB% during the season. It’s probably the downside of the switch everything defense, as the center is away from the rim most of the time.
This is correct and I think it is the intention to balance rebounding that led to poor perimeter defense today.
And it’s becoming increasingly likely that we’re past the point of making adjustments. What we need a systemic overhaul that’s not likely to happen between games of a playoff series.
They take more 3s because they play 5 out and their offense is entirely based on generating 3s. Meanwhile, the Knicks’ best 3 point shooter has taken a total of 7 shots from deep this series. I don’t think it’s the depth of 3 point players, it’s just how Thibs configures his lineups.
Knicks starting lineup has a [-]25 net rating in this series. You have to switch the lineup .
Stop doing the same thing over and over
They could just run more Brunson-KAT pick and rolls with the same offense, with Hart in the dunker spot. It’s insane that they haven’t done more of it just because Brown or Tatum is guarding KAT.
Mitchell + Deuce in this series with Brunson off
[+] 29
What I am saying is that they can play not 5 out but 9 out. As of the Knicks, imagine, for example, a game when Brunson is off. You are left with KAT and perhaps OG who is inconsistent. This is much easier to defend. There’s a reason KAT does not take more 3s. They simply don’t allow him. Thibs is not stupid, and neither is any coach. Only fools can think it is as easy as one, two, three to get KAT to shoot a dozen open threes every game.
Also, Boston is not simply generating threes. They are tall enough and strong enough to play inside, too. Look how many points they scored in the paint today.
At this point that would feel like a complete overhaul!
I know it’s just one game, but these problems have been here a long time now and I think the two comebacks just masked them.
Someone said to me the other day that “there is a zero percent chance Thibs will look at the two games in Boston and not make changes to the offense.” Well that’s what happened. But it’s not just the two games in Boston. It’s the 6 games against Detroit, and the last three months of the regular season. We converted to a new system, a bad system, and we are sticking with it come hell or high water. The Brunson-KAT pnr is gone.
But the Cam Payne -> Huk pnr *did get an easy bucket during garbage time. Everyone in the building was like, “Hey! What was that?”
What Hubie describes is the pulling down of Thibs’ pants over the course of the season, ever since OKC exposed our offense in January. No answer from Thibs and there isn’t gonna be one
I honestly wonder if Mazzulla threw games 1 and 2 just to ensure a potentially dangerous division rival continues to employ a total offensive zero as head coach for years to come. It’s just the kind of thing he would do, and BOS does employ that chess genius guy ..
Let’s be honest, Celtics shoot 1% better from 3 and they are up 3-0.
So whatever happened in games 1&2, better defense, Celtics tightness, thibs adjustment, someone putting a curse on the Celtics basket – needs to happen again
If it does, we are 50/50 to win any of the next games. If not, well tonight was a lot like the regular season matchups.
Here’s hoping…
We went 5 for 25 today from distance. The absolute majority were good shots. How can people complain we don’t take more three pointers? Had we made 10 of 25, we would be in the game, and if this were the situation, we would have taken more. As of today, take 40 and make 8 and then what? Lose by 40 points?
25 is still not enough attempts. This is 2025.
Also this doesn’t sound good for KAT taking more 3s
https://bsky.app/profile/fredkatz.bsky.social/post/3lou3ko2ilc25
The thing that was scary in the series was that Boston didn’t need to shoot much better from three to win Games 1 and 2, they had to just not shoot 25% in those two games.
They would have won both had they shot, like, 27% in the first time games.
That was the scary thing. And then they shot well today and destroyed the Knicks. Is it really a case where we have to hope they just shoot 25% two more times? The Knicks need to beat them in a game where they’re not shooting 25% to win this series.
EDITED TO ADD: Hah, clydefraziersblazers beat me to it.
The Knicks have now scored under 95 points in two games so far this series. One they somehow got a win. The offense is offensive.
If your Leon Rise you have to ask is this the best this group can do on that end? My answer is no, but I don’t know what his is
Yeah Brian that scares me too. The other major Knicks blog site had this big post about how even though 60% of the Celtics 3pt looks from Game 1 & 2 were either “Great” or “Good” looks – but that we should ignore that because the celtics individually aren’t great shootings, and therefore they were bad looks and the Knicks were super on defense.
The issue is they don’t have to revert to their season 3pt percentage – 36.8 – they just have to shoot better than 25%
It seems like a narrow path to victory – but it’s there. It’s just narrow
Yeah, I mean 25 3PAs is just two less than the league average of 27.0 per game. In 2017.
In 2025 the league average is 37.6. The worst team in the NBA averaged 31.9.
25 3PAs in a playoff game is a dreadful amount.
Exactly. By virtue of stealing two games in Boston, we can afford the Celtics shooting the lights out two more times.
Our narrow path looks like this:
– one game out of the next four where the Celtics shoot poorly again.
– one game where we win because we played our best game and no one could beat us on that particular day.
The first part is very reasonable.
It’s the second part I’m afraid of. Every team usually has one game per series where everything goes their way, they’re getting calls, and they can’t miss. But I’m afraid our offense is so broken that we might be incapable of this.
Mitch should start. If they foul him, you’re in the penalty early and bring in whoever you moved to the bench.
Bingo
We won two very fluky games.
Maybe we can win two more. Probably not.
It’s not a lot more complicated than that.
This is for Alan, to cheer him up (maybe). I was wondering what Pete Crow-Armstrong’s history was (like, Native American?), but it’s all show biz.
Peter Crow-Armstrong comes from a family deeply rooted in the entertainment industry. His parents, Matthew John Armstrong and Ashley Crow, are acclaimed actors in Hollywood.
His mother, Ashley, is best known for her role as Sandra Bennet on the hit television show “Heroes,” and his father, Matthew, has made a name for himself through roles in “Heroes” and “American Dreams.“
divincenzo looks like a different player.. feel sad for the guy, looks like his heart and soul still are in NY
https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1921356851532165495?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet KAT and Brunson both talk lack of urgency. The thing is you shouldn’t need any urgency your at home with a crowd thats ready. These players have a wrong mentality.
Kuminga low key is the most exciting player to watch on the Warriors outside of Curry
The ineffectiveness of the starting lineup has been going around on a chart for a while.
nice, looks like the warriors have settled down since losing steph…
cool to see kuminga (the forgotten man since jimmy’s arrival) playing so well…
Lest we incite my personal troll, I do not think Thibs is getting pantsed in this series.
His offense is broken, though, and a lot of that is on him.
More like the Timberwolves look awful . How are you losing to a team that hasn’t made a 3 pointer..
Did Brett Baty figure out how to hit?
Wolves and Warriors look just as bad as we did today. Playoff basketball is harder.
We will shoot better and defend better next game.
Warriors don’t have Curry Ess
How are you guys? Despite leading the series 2-1 and at home, I’m still a bit nervous about this. We are still big underdogs in this series. Game 4 could be defining. We lost and we could be surprise we lose this at 2-4.
Hope we can bounce back and get that win. The first 2 wins could look like clutch but could also be “lucky” for us
Kuminga was benched lolol
not to be too critical well educated – but your default view often seems to be basic human ineptitude is the reasoning for most poor results…
yep, fairly consistent viewpoint…well educated nestled safely away up in that ivory tower, far away from the irritating rabble below unable to stay locked in on life 24/7…
I’m imagining some kind of wild and freaky dance off with you and pags going back and forth…
still haven’t settled on the appropriate soundtrack for this activity…I’m working on it though…
….
I wish he was just getting pantsed in the series. Instead he’s getting pantsed in the entire second half of the season. By the entire league. We literally un-jelled and got worse as the year went on, culminating in our complete inability to create a good shot with the most played lineup in the entire league. Make it make sense.
Hield just tried one of the biggest heat check I’ve seen.
The Warriors are just soooooooo small, and without the shooting that you’d think you’d at least get from being so small.
Classic Randle late game ballhandling.
Pags…. I visualize you in my mind’s eye as Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird. Any truth to that?
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