BOSTON — The Celtics entered their second round series against the Knicks as heavy favorites. Shockingly, they’ve dropped their first two games at home in virtually identical fashion by blowing a pair of 20-point leads in the second half.
The defeats put Boston facing a daunting climb to advance in the series, with just 34 teams in NBA history rallying from a 0-2 series deficit (7.3 percent). Only five teams in NBA history have come back after losing their first two games at home in a seven-game series.
Despite those daunting odds, Kristaps Porzingis sees Boston now turning into underdogs in the series as a good thing for the defending champions.
“In a way, it takes some of the pressure off of us,” Porzingis said. “Now it’s — I don’t know, if you check the odds, maybe the Knicks are the favorites now to win. We were expected to win. For us to be in this hole right now, with our backs against the wall, we have nothing to lose. We gotta go out there, leave it all out on the floor. And again, I think it’s a lot of basketball left to be played and we’ll see where it goes.”
The Celtics were one of the five teams in NBA history to rally from 0-2 deficit at home, beating the Chicago Bulls in six games during the 2017 first round. A Game 2 injury to Rajon Rondo aided Boston’s comeback in that series as did a starting lineup adjustment with Gerald Green getting inserted into the fold.
Whether a similar adjustment is coming for Boston remains to be seen. However, Porzingis is adamant that the team’s best basketball is still ahead of it after a rough start to the series.
“We’re probably going to look at it and analyze how we could’ve done a better job,” Porzingis said. “All throughout the game, we could’ve probably shot the ball better, did this better then we pull away even more. But they hung around and similar result. It sucks really bad right now. But we got a lot of basketball to be played and let’s see where this goes.”
The Celtics will have two days off before heading to New York for Game 3 at Madison Square Garden.
“It’s definitely a tough situation,” Porzingis said. “Down 2-0. Again, I’ve been in this situation on both sides. There’s a lot of basketball still to be played. And the momentum can change. Nobody feels sorry for us. We have to go out there and take it each game.”
