BOSTON — Once the Knicks erased their 20-point deficit, they forced the Celtics to play the only brand of basketball they’ve known these playoffs: clutch games. New York had to battle past the Pistons in six games which featured multiple close finishes, so the Knicks have lived this life for the past few weeks.
So there were the Knicks again down the stretch of a classic Game 1 of the East semifinals. The Celtics were up for the challenge in regulation, throwing haymakers themselves to fend off the Knicks. When New York went up six points after back-to-back Jalen Brunson 3s, there were the C’s who ripped off a 7-0 run themselves.
But by the end, the Celtics didn’t have enough makes in them as they were stunned in an overtime thriller in Game 1. The C’s got a jarring reminder that these are the playoffs, where clutch games can turn on a whim and it’s a different environment. Plus, who they can rely on during the playoffs is different than the regular season.
“In those moments, when other teams got momentum, we can’t just fire up 3s to break up momentum,” Jaylen Brown said. “You got to get to the free-throw line, get to the paint, get to the basket, maybe get an easy two. Get some free throws and then maybe the next 3-pointer feels a little bit better. I feel like we just settled in the second half a lot, but we’ll look at it and we’ll make adjustments.”
The Celtics beat the Knicks in differing ways during the regular season, but they often relied on those 3-pointers. They even tied an NBA record on opening night when they knocked down 29 of them that also doubled as ring night. But Monday’s loss was different as the Celtics admitted they settled on multiple 3-pointers. The Celtics’ 45 missed 3-pointers was an NBA playoffs record for futility.
The playoff stage was also again bothersome for Kristaps Porzingis, who left Game 1 early due to an illness. He went 0-for-4 from the field for zero points, and while he collected four rebounds, that was the extent of his production in 13 minutes. The big man looks less and less reliable as each playoff game passes, and this latest illness is another question mark going forward. Even if he wasn’t 100% for Game 1, that then calls into concerns his availability issues. The C’s made do without him on the fly, but with Sam Hauser also picking up an ankle injury Monday, the depth was affected.
“We’ll check on him,” C’s coach Joe Mazzulla said. “But obviously it impacts the game with his ability on both ends of the floor, and it obviously changes sub patterns or changes the things that you’re able to do matchup-wise and play-call frequency wise, so yeah, I think we felt it, but it’s no excuse. We had plenty of opportunities to do it, and hopefully he’s ready for Game 2.”
The Celtics are still favored to get past the Knicks even though they had a setback to open the series. But the margin of error certainly slimmed after the Game 1 loss, which also doubled as Boston’s first defeat to New York in five games. While the Celtics as a team are proven playoff contenders, they’re not immune to falling into bad habits like setting for 3-pointers.
So the C’s will look to regroup since that’s all they can do. There’s seemingly no sense of panic considering it was just one game. But it was the latest data point that if the C’s stray away from what made them great, they’re susceptible to disappointing games like Monday’s loss to the Knicks.
“You take a look at it and you learn what you can learn from it,” Brown said. “Obviously we had a historic night of missed 3-pointers. We’ll take a look and kind of see what the energy was. But in reality, you almost got to have a short-term memory, throw it away, get ready for game two. We don’t have time to let stuff carry over, so we make adjustments and come ready to play on our home floor.”
