BOSTON — In the waning seconds of overtime, New York Knicks wing Mikal Bridges ripped a potential game-tying 3-point attempt from the hands of Boston Celtics counterpart Jaylen Brown, and the underdogs walked out of TD Garden with a stunning Game 1 victory in their East semifinal playoff series, 108-105.
The Knicks stormed back from a 20-point, second-half 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 New York’s Jalen Brunson (29 points, 5 assists) both missed opportunities to break a 100-100 tie in the waning 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 overtime to steal home court.
OG Anunoby of the Knicks dunks against Jayson Tatum of the Celtics in Game 1 of the East semifinals at TD Garden on Monday in Boston. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Maddie Meyer via Getty Images)
Targeting Karl-Anthony Towns
From the jump, Tatum attacked Karl-Anthony Towns in the pick-and-roll, repeatedly calling him into the action. He drove on him, drew a foul. He drained a 3-pointer when Towns slept on a switch. So scared of another one, Towns jumped on a pump fake, and Tatum drew a second foul. All in the first five minutes.
Advertisement
Josh Hart also picked up his second foul in the opening five minutes defending Tatum. Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was forced to go to his bench early, so what did Tatum do? He picked on Mitchell Robinson instead. By the end of the first quarter, Tatum had 13 of the Celtics’ 26 points. Easily.
Towns returned in the second quarter, only to get worked by Brown in the pick-and-roll, adding a third foul. And when Towns sat for a second time, Payton Pritchard went about working on Robinson. It was a rotating cast of characters, demanding New York’s weakest defender, creating an array of quality shots.
Not that all of those shots found the bottom of the basket though, as the Celtics shot 35.1% from the field.
Knicks don’t quit
The Celtics pushed their lead to as large as 72-52 midway through the third quarter. It looked over.
Advertisement
Then those Knicks — the ones who never quit — showed up. Anunoby drained consecutive 3-pointers to cut Boston’s lead to 75-61. Brunson finally found some daylight, 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.
Boston froze for a spell, abandoning its game plan and settling for 3-pointers, shooting 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 run from the Knicks early in the fourth quarter, punctuated by another Anunoby triple, sliced Boston’s lead to 84-83 with 8:58 remaining. Moments later, Anunoby picked Tatum’s pocket — as Tatum attacked Towns in the pick-and-roll, no less — and dunked home the tie, 86-86.
Advertisement
It was Brunson, whose heroics ended New York’s series against Detroit, 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 drained another one on New York’s next possession, pushing its advantage to 97-91. The Clutch Player of the Year arrived.
The Celtics responded with a 7-0 run, capped by a Derrick White 3, to retake the lead with 2:18 left. Still, Anunoby connected on his sixth and final 3-pointer of the night, giving a 100-98 advantage back to New York.
An ailing Kristaps Porziņģis
Kristaps Porziņģis gave it a go, 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 head coach Joe Mazzulla subbed him out with 7:34 remaining in the second quarter, and he never returned.
Advertisement
Al Horford started the third quarter in place of Porziņģis.
Porziņģis played 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 returns in this series, Boston has another wrinkle 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 stout defense vs. Brunson, delivered one of the game’s biggest assists — finding an open Derrick White in the corner for a 98-97 lead — and made one of the game’s biggest shots, a game-tying layup with 53 ticks left in regulation.
But it wasn’t enough, as the Knicks refused to go away.
Read the full article here