The Boston Celtics beat the New York Knicks 119-117 on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. It was the second game of the four this season for which both teams' starting lineups were at full strength. The Knicks came into the game looking to avoid a season-series sweep by Boston but were unsuccessful.
New York was primed to earn their first victory over the defending champions. They took a three-point lead with 11.2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. But they didn't send a Celtic to the free-throw line. That left a chance that Boston would score the three points needed to tie things up.
Jayson Tatum made a step-back 3-pointer that tied the game and led to overtime. Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters after the game that Boston inbounding the ball quickly and Tatum immediately pushing the pace left the Knicks defense without a chance to safely foul. But OG Anunoby, Tatum's defender, was quick to admit his fault.
“I should have fouled,” Anunoby told reporters after the game.
It was a tough way for the Knicks to drop one at home – especially against a team they get attention for not having defeated this season. But the Celtics are defending an NBA title, which Thibodeau noted while crediting Jalen Brunson for his play postgame.
“They're the defending champion, right? So until someone proves they can beat 'em, they're defending their championship,” Thibodeau asserted. “There's a lot of work for us to do…I thought Jalen gave us really good minutes.”
The Knicks won the first quarter against the Celtics for the first time this season, 30-27. They out-rebounded the Celtics for the first time this season, 52 to 38. But they didn't win the game. How was this possible behind a 34-point performance from Karl-Anthony Towns?
The Knicks, Celtics had very different 34-point performances
The Celtics started the game shooting just 2-9 from behind the arc. But at eighth in the NBA in 3-point percentage and first in total made 3-pointers, that was likely to regress to the mean. Kristaps Porzingis' fifth made 3-pointer of the game gave Boston a 63-60 lead early in the third quarter.
Porzingis finished the game with 34 points, like Towns. But Towns made just one of his three attempts from deep while Porzingis went 8-13. Boston's big man averages 5.8 attempts per game from downtown while Towns' 4.8 is the least he's averaged since the 2018-19 season.
The fundamental difference in usage can't just be chalked up to the players' willingness to fire away or their coaches' efforts to encourage a certain shot diet. Defenses have to pick their poison in an NBA with so many capable offensive players, making it short-sighted to impose specific minimums on any player or team.
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The Celtics are the NBA's paragon of scheme versatility on both ends of the court. On Tuesday night, they decided they'd prefer Towns earning his points inside to his scoring being the result of a lack of perimeter coverage. After Towns made his sole 3-pointer in the game's opening quarter, Boston showed with their defense that they wanted to avoid that outcome if possible.
By the end of the game, their strategy had worked. Towns attempted zero 3-point shots in both the fourth quarter and overtime. And despite turning in a 34-point performance, shooting 14-21 from the field, Porzingis' 34 points just cut deeper.
It was irrelevant that it took Porzingis two fewer shots to produce the same result. What Porzingis' success from downtown represented was quite relevant. His volume, along with the inhibition of Towns' perimeter prowess, was a major factor in the Celtics taking 11 more threes as a team.
Thibodeau told reporters after the game that he didn't see the differences in usage between Towns and Porzingis as putting the team at a mathematical disadvantage.
“Well, not really,” the coach began, “Because in that stretch in the third, when KAT was getting doubled, I thought KAT did a really good job of making plays. We had wide-open 3s we didn’t make.”
Brunson hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of overtime. This helped New York lose by one of the smallest margins possible. But it was also the Knicks' first made 3-pointer in 12:33 of play. Mikal Bridges' timely 26-foot jump shot with 7:33 left in the fourth quarter was the team's previous 3PM.'
The Celtics' ability to play five-out offense, which Porzingis' shooting is integral to, isn't a golden ticket to a championship. Being so versatile on both ends of the floor that the Knicks, ranked 13th in defensive rating this season, looked helpless as Boston's 7-foot-2 big man rained 3s on them? That's a tough challenge for any team.
Despite the sweep, New York may have to face Boston again this season in the playoffs. And Thibodeau made clear after the game that he knows the postseason is rapidly approaching.
“Playoffs will be here shortly,” the coach remarked. “So there's urgency to this.”
