THOUGHTS | BOSTON'S SERIES LOSS TO NEW YORK

NBA.COM

I'm a Boston Celtics fan, and I just watched my team get thoroughly dismantled by the New York Knicks. And yeah—I hated every second of it.

It was the perfect storm of disaster: Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porziņģis both sidelined by injuries, and Jaylen Brown ejected in the third quarter. Pain all around.

I like Joe Mazzulla. The guy delivered a championship after over a decade of waiting. But the moment Tatum went down with that Achilles injury, it felt like the beginning of the end for Boston's 2024–25 season.

Now, I know I'm just an extremely low-level armchair tactician. Still, I've always believed that relying on low-percentage shots will eventually bite you, and Boston proved it.

Derrick White went 26-of-65 from three. Jaylen Brown? 13-of-45. Payton Pritchard: 18-of-49. Even before his injury, Tatum was 17-of-45. As a team, the Celtics launched 277 threes in the series. The Knicks? Only 202.

But here’s the kicker: New York pulled down 276 rebounds and made 71 threes. Boston, meanwhile, grabbed just 227 boards and made 97 threes. We kept chucking, they kept cleaning up.

That’s the glaring difference between regular-season habits and playoff execution. Boston settled for heaves. The Knicks capitalized on the misses.

In Game 6 alone, Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart both had double-doubles. OG Anunoby came one rebound shy. For Boston, Jaylen Brown led the team in points (20), rebounds (6), and assists (6)—and fouled out before the fourth quarter even began. Jalen Brunson posted nearly identical stats but did it cleaner and more efficiently, finishing with three more points and one less three-point attempt than Brown.

And yeah, the Knicks also doubled Boston's free throw attempts—21 to 10—in that same game. Just one more stat that stings.

But enough with the numbers.

What frustrated me the most wasn’t just the loss—it was the mental lapses.

New York built an 80–43 lead by halftime. Sure, the Celtics looked emotionally drained. But then Joe Mazzulla kept Jaylen Brown on the floor in the third quarter despite him already having four fouls. Predictably, he picked up his sixth on a blatant foul bait by Jalen Brunson.

At the time, Boston’s lineup was Brown, Al Horford, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday. Of those five, three are guards—two undersized, one an elite defender in Holiday. Yet somehow, with all those backcourt options, it was Brown, the foul-troubled star, guarding Brunson.

That’s baffling.

Meanwhile, White was forced to try and contain Karl-Anthony Towns, one of New York’s bigger and more skilled frontcourt threats. If Brown asked to take the Brunson assignment, it’s still Mazzulla’s job to say no. Coaches are supposed to protect their stars from themselves. This is why teams hire “enforcers”—to get under a star’s skin and derail a team’s entire offensive flow.

Yes, I get that we’re in the era of positionless basketball. But Boston has to play smarter. With New York up by 30, the Celtics could’ve just let Brown camp out beyond the arc defensively, preserving him to lead transition attacks. Instead, they walked right into New York’s trap.

This wasn’t just a loss—it was an embarrassing unraveling. It felt like Boston let the Knicks stomp all over their identity. And seeing Knicks legends like John Starks, Larry Johnson, Charles Oakley, Willis Reed, and Walt Frazier celebrating? It stung. Because it felt like Boston let down its own legends.

Looking ahead, it’s going to be an uphill climb. Tatum’s Achilles rupture could sideline him for most—if not all—of next season. That’s a devastating blow. The Celtics will need someone to step into that massive void.

I don’t know if Boston has the cap flexibility to pull off a major trade. But maybe they can strike gold in the 2025 NBA Draft. Picks 28 and 32 aren’t sexy, but they’re still opportunities. It’s not impossible to find a serviceable combo forward that late.

Can they flip Pritchard, Holiday, or Sam Hauser into something meaningful? Who knows. But they need to prepare for the possibility of a season without Tatum. That doesn’t mean giving up—it means evolving. Maybe someone like Xavier Tillman, who started games in Memphis, or Neemias Queta, who had flashes in Sacramento, can step up. Baylor Scheierman is another intriguing name—plus, I’ve got a ton of his rookie cards, so that’s a win either way.

And hey, maybe Luke Kornet gets more minutes. The dude stepped up while Porziņģis was out. Could Uni-Kornet be a difference-maker with a larger role?

I think the Celtics came into this series thinking they were untouchable. And maybe getting knocked back down to earth is exactly what they needed.

New York was better this time.

That much is clear.

But Boston still has fight left. And if they play it smart, they'll come back stronger.