When the New York Knicks created their superteam this offseason, it was constructed to be a team that could compete with Boston. Now the two teams will square off in the Conference Semifinals. If the regular season has anything to do with how this series will turn out, it looks good for Boston.
The first game was Opening Night when New York traveled to TD Garden for the first game of the regular season. The energy and emotions were high that night as Boston raised Banner 18 to the rafters and the players received their championship rings.
On top of receiving their rings, the Celtics showed out and made a statement defeating the Knicks 132-109.
Boston was on fire from three right from the start making nine threes in the opening quarter. The threes continued to fall for Boston as it finished with 29 threes in the game, tying the Milwaukee Bucks for most three-pointers made in a game. The Celtics had ample time to set the record, but they missed their next 12 three-point attempts.
Jayson Tatum was a level above everyone else on the night as JT scored 37 points on 14-of-18 shooting with 10 assists. Tatum led all scorers on the night.
Mikal Bridges was brought to New York to bring spacing to the floor and another reliable scorer, however, in his Knicks debut the former Villanova star struggled from behind the arc going 2-of-7 and having a team worse -33 +/-.
All five Celtics starters got into double-digit scoring, with Al Horford starting in place of Porzingis who missed the opening portion of the season.
The second meeting wasn’t until February 8 at Madison Square Garden where once again the Celtics scored 130+ points on the Knickerbockers. Boston won handsomely thanks to a 40-point performance from Jayson Tatum.
At the time, Boston was only 1.5 games ahead of New York for the second seed which made the stakes of this game higher. Although Brunson poured in 36 points for his team, Tatum’s 40-piece and Payton Pritchard scoring 25 off the bench was too much for the Knicks once again.
To be fair to New York, they were out their defensive ace OG Anunoby but Boston was without Jrue Holiday on the night and Porzingis was a late scratch too.
Tatum started the game with a bang… literally. Tatum off of a screen hit KAT with an in-and-out move before rising up and posterizing Precious Achiuwa for the first points of the game.
It was a 19-3 run in the third quarter that blew the game open which was fueled by Derrick White and Tatum. The run climbed to a 26-9 run with Tatum scoring 19 third-quarter points and White chipping in with 11 to give Boston a 20-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
Boston put the fourth quarter in cruise control and walked out of MSG with another win over their Eastern Conference rivals.
15 days later, New York traveled back to Boston and once again left TD Garden with a loss. Although not as dominant as the previous two matchups, Boston still found a way to get the 118-105 victory.
The game was the first time the Celtics were home since the All-Star break. Tatum, once again, led Boston in scoring with 25 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out nine assists to power Boston past New York.
Jrue Holiday scored nine of his 14 points in the opening quarter giving Boston an early boost. This was Porzingis’ first game against the Knicks of the season. The Latvian scored 15 points and had three blocks. Like Boston has done all season, they hunted for mismatches, and with Porzngis sharing the floor with Cameron Payne, it was an obvious mismatch they tried to exploit.
Boston led by 21 at halftime and even though they had a chance to put the dagger into New York in the third quarter, the Knicks stayed within reach.
The Knicks outscored Boston 39-25 in the third quarter to cut the deficit to seven. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 10 straight points en route to a Knicks 19-5 run. New York shot 60% in the quarter and 67% from behind the arc.
In the fourth, however, Boston regained the momentum thanks to a run inspired by Jaylen Brown to reclaim a double-digit lead. Boston sprinted to the finish line to make it a 3-0 regular series advantage.
The final regular season matchup occurred less than a month ago in New York on April 8. The Celtics squeaked by with a 119-117 overtime win.
A common theme in all four games has been Jayson Tatum being the star. In this game he once again stepped up, this time drilling the three to send the game into overtime.
After Tatum’s clutch three, Porzingis decided to hit a clutch three of his own by drilling a three with 40 seconds left to put Boston up by three.
Porzingis returned to the place where he was drafted and poured in 34 points on 11-of-19 shooting and an incredible 8-of-13 from three. Porzingis struggled shooting against the Magic, but if he can find his scoring form against the Knicks he provides a boost on offense making sure KAT can’t hang around the paint.
Despite the loss, the Knicks were led by KAT who had his best game against Boston finishing with 34 points and 14 rebounds while Jalen Brunson added 27 points and nine assists in his first game back from an injury.
Although the Celtics swept the regular season series, the last two matchups were a lot closer and is what I expect for the upcoming series.
