Celtics again go ice cold late in ‘inexcusable’ loss to Knicks
BOSTON — Being down 2-0 in a series is one challenge, but the Boston Celtics are dealing with a more confounding one: They don’t seem to understand how they got here.
After blowing a 20-point Game 1 lead to the Knicks and losing in overtime, the Celtics let it happen again in Wednesday night’s Game 2, getting walked down and passed in crunch time as New York took a 91-90 victory.
“Two games we’re up 20 points somehow end up not with wins is inexcusable,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown said. “Obviously being down two, it sucks.”
New York overcame a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter in Game 1. In Game 2, it was 16 points early in the fourth before everything turned. The Knicks didn’t take their first lead of the game until there were four minutes remaining. They have led for just 12 minutes total in the two games but have a 2-0 lead, leaving the defending champion and 61-win Celtics bewildered.
“They made every play … I thought we generated some good looks and then I thought we had some live-ball turnovers and they took advantage of it, so they made the necessary plays to win,” said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, whose team didn’t actually allow any points off turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“We put ourselves in position and we just didn’t make the plays.”
The Celtics missed 14 of their final 15 shots and were outscored 23-6 over the last 8:30. The 3-point shot, their core offensive weapon, totally has abandoned them in Games 1 and 2, as they’ve shot 4-of-26 on 3s in the two fourth quarters. They feel like they were generating quality looks but their execution is absent.
Meanwhile, the Knicks, led by NBA Clutch Player of the Year Jalen Brunson, appear totally confident. They’re now 5-0 on the road this postseason and have won all five games by three points or less with Brunson repeatedly generating the difference. He had nine points in the fourth quarter of Game 2, including the game-winning free throws with 12.7 seconds left.
“I don’t have the answer honestly, I don’t have the answer,” Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis said. “Just a little bit of execution here and there. There’s a couple missed shots here and there. A couple things go their way and it just adds up and it’s this result.”
The Celtics are 3-of-20 shooting in “clutch time,” defined as the last five minutes of the game with the score within five points, over the two games. Jayson Tatum and Brown, Boston’s star wings, are a combined 1-of-12 in those moments.
Brown turned over the ball on the last possession of Game 1, with Knicks wing Mikal Bridges stripping him. Tatum turned over the ball on the last possession of Game 2, this time Bridges deflecting a desperation pass after Tatum dribbled into a double team with the clock running out.
“(It’s) a bunch of stuff that we can control,” said Brown, who had 20 points but was just 1-of-7 shooting in the second half and finished with six turnovers. “I feel like we played a little bit fast and sped up a little antsy. Just it’s a rough night.”
Tatum was just 5-of-19 shooting for the game. He had an impressive coast-to-coast dunk to give the Celtics the lead with 18 seconds left in what was a rare clutch-time highlight for the Celtics. But when Boston tried to run the same play for the game-winner after Brunson’s free throws, Mazzulla elected not to call his final timeout to draw up a different look and Tatum couldn’t execute it again.
Tatum didn’t address the media after the game because TD Garden had to be evacuated due to a fire alarm, allowing for various metaphors.
More worrisome, though, might be the health of Porzingis. After missing the second half of Game 1 due to illness, he came off the bench Wednesday. He had eight points and four rebounds but admitted he is not feeling well, part of a sickness he has battled on and off since February.
“I dunno how to call it, but I’m just not feeling my best, not feeling my best at all,” he said. “It’s just kills me inside that it’s happening in this moment. But who cares? Nobody feels sorry for us, sorry for me and we have to keep going.”
Source: espn.com