The challenge of being down 2-0 in a series is significant, but the Boston Celtics face an even more perplexing situation: they seem not to understand how they got into this position.
After squandering a 20-point lead in the first game against the Knicks and losing in overtime, the Celtics repeated history in the second game, being outscored in the critical moments and losing 91-90.
Two games in which we were winning by 20 points, somehow end in defeats, it is inexcusable.
Jaylen Brown
The Knicks overcame a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter of the first game. In the second game, it was 16 points at the start of the final quarter before everything changed. The Knicks didn’t take the lead until there were four minutes left. They have led for only 12 minutes in total in the two games, but they have a 2-0 lead, leaving the defending champion Celtics, with 61 regular season wins, stunned.
They made every play… We generated good opportunities, but then we had turnovers and they took advantage, so they made the plays necessary to win.
Joe Mazzulla
The Celtics missed 14 of their last 15 shots and were outscored 23-6 in the final 8:30. The 3-point shot, their main offensive weapon, has completely abandoned them in Games 1 and 2, with 4 of 26 from three-point range in the last two quarters. They feel they generated good opportunities, but their execution failed.
Meanwhile, the Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson, NBA Clutch Player of the Year, seem completely confident. They are now 5-0 on the road this postseason and have won all five games by three points or less, with Brunson repeatedly making the difference. He had nine points in the final quarter of the second game, including the winning free throws with 12.7 seconds remaining.
Honestly, I don’t have the answer. Just a little execution here and there. A couple of missed shots here and there. A couple of things go their way and it adds up, and this is the result.
Kristaps Porzingis
The Celtics are 3-for-20 on shots in “clutch time,” defined as the final five minutes of the game with a five-point or fewer differential, across the two games. Jayson Tatum and Brown, Boston’s stars, are a combined 1-for-12 in those moments.
Brown lost the ball on the last possession of the first game, with the Knicks’ Mikal Bridges stealing it. Tatum lost the ball on the last possession of the second game, this time Bridges deflected a desperate pass after Tatum drove into a double team with time running out.
It’s a lot of things we can control. I feel like we played a little fast and sped up a little bit, anxious. It was a tough night.
Jaylen Brown
Tatum went 5-of-19 from the field in the game. He had an impressive coast-to-coast dunk that gave the Celtics the lead with 18 seconds remaining, in what was a rare clutch-time highlight for the Celtics. But when Boston tried to run the same play to win the game after Brunson’s free throws, Mazzulla opted not to call his final timeout to devise something different and Tatum couldn’t execute it again.
Tatum didn’t speak to the media after the game because TD Garden had to be evacuated due to a fire alarm.
More concerning could be Porzingis’ health. After missing the second half of the first game due to illness, he came off the bench on Wednesday. He had eight points and four rebounds, but admitted he doesn’t feel well, part of an illness he’s been battling intermittently since February.
I don’t know what to call it, but I don’t feel the best, I don’t feel the best at all. It kills me inside that it’s happening right now. But who cares? Nobody pities us, me, and we have to move on.
Kristaps Porzingis
