Even the defending champions can die by the 3.
In the last few seconds of overtime, with the game hanging in the balance, the New York Knicks Mikal Bridges, who logged in an incredible 51 minutes of playing time, ripped a potential game-tying 3-point attempt from the hands of Boston Celtics counterpart Jaylen Brown, and the severe underdogs escaped and walked out of TD Garden with a stunning Game 1 victory in their East semifinal playoff series, 108-105.
The Knicks fought their way back from a seemingly insurmountable 20-point, third quarter deficit to make a close game of what appeared to be headed for a blowout. Boston’s Jayson Tatum (23 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists) and the Knicks Jalen Brunson (29 points, 5 assists) both missed game-winning chances to break a 100-100 tie in the last seconds of regulation, Tatum a step-back 3-pointer, Brunson a layup. But OG Anunoby (29 points) and the Knicks outscored the Celtics 8-5 in the extra session to steal home court.
“We told each other just keep believing. Just keep fighting and sticking together and keep chipping away. There wasn’t going to be a 20-point shot,” Brunson said.
From the opening tip, Tatum attacked Karl-Anthony Towns in the pick-and-roll, repeatedly calling him into the action. He drove to the basket on him and drew a foul. He buried a 3-pointer when Towns was late on a switch. Shaking in his boots about the thought of another one, Towns jumped on a pump fake, and Tatum drew a second foul, all in the first five minutes of the contest.
The Swiss Army Knife, Josh Hart also found himself saddled with fouls, collecting his second in the opening five minutes defending Tatum. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was forced to deviate from his game plan and go to his bench early, so what did Tatum do? He abused Mitchell Robinson instead. By the end of the first quarter, Tatum had thirteen of the Celtics’ 26 points.
Towns returned in the second quarter, only to get tortured by Brown in the pick-and-roll, adding a third foul. And when Towns sat for a second time, Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard made it his mission to take Robinson to school. It was a rotating cast of characters, demanding New York’s weakest defender, creating an array of quality shots.
“In those spots where they have momentum, we can’t just fire up 3s,” Brown said. “I felt like we just settled in the second half a lot.”
Not that all of those shots and looks found the bottom of the net, as the Celtics shot 35.1% from the field.
The Celtics pushed their lead to as large as 72-52 at the halfway point of the third quarter. It looked like everyone should start preparing for Game 2 on Wednesday.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen those Knicks, the ones who never give up, showed up. Anunoby knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to cut Boston’s lead to 14, 75-61. Brunson was finally able to get a rhythm, scoring eight of his 29 points in a little over two minutes at the end of the third quarter. And the Knicks closed the frame on a 23-12 run, taking a more manageable nine-point deficit into the final quarter.
The Celtics could not hit anything for a significant stretch of time, abandoning their game plan and settling for perimeter shots, shooting a dismal 25%, 15-of-60 from long range, becoming the first team in postseason history to take 60 3s and setting a playoff record with 45 misses.
Another 8-0 spurt from the Knicks early in the fourth quarter, capped by another Anunoby triple, sliced Boston’s lead down to one, 84-83, with just under nine minutes remaining. Moments later, Anunoby stole the ball from a normally sure-handed Tatum, as Tatum attacked Towns in the pick-and-roll, and dunked the ball, tying the game at 86.
It was Brunson, whose clutch shooting ended New York’s physical series against the Detroit Pistons in six games, who gave the Knicks their first lead since early in the second quarter, draining a corner 3-pointer to snap a 91-91 tie. He sank another one on New York’s ensuing possession, pushing their advantage to six, 97-91. The Clutch Player of the Year arrived.
The Celtics responded with a 7-0 run of their own, capped by a Derrick White 3, to retake the lead, 98-97, with 2:18 left. Still, Anunoby connected on his sixth and final 3-pointer of the night, giving a 100-98 advantage back to the Knicks.
Kristaps Porzingis gave it his best shot, playing through a non-COVID illness at the start of the game, but he missed all four of his shots and had only four rebounds to show for his 13 minutes. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla subbed him out with 7:34 remaining in the second quarter, and he never returned.
When asked about Porzingis after the game, Mazzulla did not have much to offer.
“I haven’t seen him yet,” Mazzulla told reporters. “We’ll check on him. 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.”
Al Horford started the third quarter in place of Porzingis.
Porzingis played for a total of 73 minutes against the Knicks in the regular season, and the Celtics outscored New York by 11 points per 100 possessions in that span. Assuming he comes back in this series, Boston has another weapon to throw at the Knicks’ defense, a 7-foot-2 rim-running, floor-spacing unicorn.
On the bright side for Boston, the Celtics returned Jrue Holiday from a hamstring strain that cost him the final three games of their opening-round series against the Orlando Magic. He played exceptional defense vs. Brunson, delivered one of the game’s biggest assists, finding an open White in the corner for a 98-97 lead, and made one of the game’s biggest shots, a game-tying layup with 53 seconds left in regulation.
But it was not enough, as the Knicks refused to go away.
