BOSTON — The top half of the Eastern Conference knew this summer they needed to upgrade their talent to give themselves a chance to hang with the Celtics. The Knicks in particular were one the teams in decent position to give themselves a chance to level up. Despite a myriad of injuries, New York fell just one game short of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024 but elected to shake things up quite a bit to their core over the past three months.
After acquiring Mikal Bridges for a host of first round picks in June, the Knicks officially made their all-in move last month, landing Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first round pick from the Wolv es. The blockbuster deal creates a much higher offensive upside for this Knicks roster on paper with the firepower that Towns provides. However, that upside failed to account for a Celtics rival that can take advantage of Towns’ limitations at all five positions and that was on full display Tuesday night.
Offensively, the Celtics were relentlessly attacking Towns, putting him in constant screening actions that led to easy looks from the perimeter on Tuesday night. Towns is a respectable post defender but he is a traditional big that does not switch well out in space. Needless to say, it’s not a surprise the Celtics tied the NBA record for 3-point makes in a game (29) with Towns prominently featured. Boston scored 2.0 points per possession with Towns as the screen defender per Second Spectrum.
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Towns’ vulnerability defensively is not a new development against Boston but the Knicks’ problem is the fact he was unable to make up for it with his offense on Tuesday night. The Celtics threw smaller defenders at him for much of the night (Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown) to save some wear and tear on Al Horford and it worked well. Towns (12 points on 5-of-9 shooting) let them off the hook regularly as did a Knicks offense that didn’t look to him often. With Boston switching against him, he could not find easy looks from 3-point range. His postups weren’t very efficient and even when they went in, the Celtics happily traded those twos while bombing up 61 3s.
Horford spoke fondly about Towns after the game but the reality is Towns caused more harm than good for the Knicks in this matchup.
“It’s always fun to go against KAT,” Horford said. “I mean, you know, one of the best players in this league, and so much he can do. So now he’s in New York, so, it’s always special for me, and it gives perspective, you know, both of us from the Dominican and playing at this level. It’s not easy to play in the NBA and play at this level. So that those moments are always special.”
It’s just one game in the standings but the problems that Towns poses in a Celtics matchup aren’t going anyway anytime soon. Boston has two guys now they can hunt with the Knicks’ defense consistently (Jalen Brunson, Towns) and New York’s front office has spent all of their assets already bringing aboard Towns and Bridges this offseason. No other complementary pieces can be added to this group without taking away other parts of the team’s already shallow rotation.
Meanwhile, the Celtics are a well oiled machine with strong continuity and a talent advantage. They also enter games with a strong plan that don’t let teams have the hook, something Tatum voiced after his 37-point night.
“I think just offensively, I feel like we picked up from where we were last year,” Tatum explained. “We brought almost everybody back. We played to our strengths. We know what we’re trying to do. We know who we’re trying to attack. We know what sets and actions to get in and we work on it all the time. We work on reads every single day in practice and that’s essentially all we do.”
The Celtics won’t make 29 3s every night like we saw in Tuesdays’ win but they do know how to exploit an opponent. With the holes that Towns presents for the Knicks defense against Boston, it’s hard to envision the Knicks developing into a team capable of taking down Boston in a seven-game series.
