Celtics-Knicks: 4 things to watch how Boston wants to stay alive without Jayson Tatum

The Boston Celtics, the defending champions that were never threatened on the way to the title 2024, are suddenly equipped … without their best player.

Jayson Tatum could look for next year after suffering a Achilles tendon with torn Achilles tendon in the fourth Eastern Conference on Monday. And the Celtics, the 3: 1 Down7 et, tnt).

Winning without Tatum will be difficult, but not impossible. Boston is 9-2 this season without Tatum (3-2 against playoff teams).

Win three in a row against the Knicks? This is a harder task, especially in Kristapaps Porziņģ that clearly suffer from the effects of an illness. But the first step is only game 5.

“We only found one way,” said Derrick White on Monday. “Who is out there, whatever it needs.”

Here are some notes, numbers and film when the series goes back to Boston …

---

1. Jaylen Brown must be better

With Tatum Out, the spotlight is obviously on Jaylen Brown, which in this series has an effective field target percentage of only 42.2%.

Despite Brown's fights, the Celtics survived and exceeded the Knicks for two points in its 30 minutes on the floor without Tatum, thanks to some defense numbers …

Celtics with brown and/or Tatum on the floor in conf. Semis

Offrtg = points per 100 possessions achieved
DefrtG = points per 100 possessions permitted
NTRTG = point difference per 100 possessions

Your offensive schedule begins to judge Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns with Ball screens for Brown. In the first four games, Brunson (21) or cities (16) were the defender of the screen at 37 of the 53 ball screens, in which Brown was the ball handler, as SECOND Spectrum Tracking.

Brunson kept in order on a few great possessions in which he switched to Brown, but the primary reporting of the Knicks is that Brunson insures and tries to recover to his husband when Brown's defender (*Josh Hart, usually) is trying to return to the ball.

* With Tatum Out we could see how OG Anunoby took over the brown order on Wednesday.

The hedge-and-recover reporting could open the Celtics for the Celtics if Brown makes quick decisions.

When playing the third quarter of game 4, the Celtics set two screens for Brown, the first in cities and the second in Brunson. Derrick White slipped out of the second screen and received a 3-point attempt with a clean catch-and-shoot attempt, with the option of rounding off the cities and being possible to create an even better shot …

The Celtics are last in the ball movement (266 passes per 24 minutes) and in the playoffs in the player movement (10.1 miles per 24 minutes). There were a few cases of increasing movement that made 4 great shots in game …

… but this type of possession was only a few and far apart.

Without Tatum one-to-one, the Celtics will need more movement on their offensive in the future. And since cities are more likely to change the screens for Brown, it could be the better game schedule to attack Brunson (and bend the defense more).

---

2. Should the Celtics play small?

When the Celtics are healthy, they have six starters. But Porzi 'fights make it more difficult to replace the production of Tatum.

The Celtics played almost seven minutes of the fourth district of game 4 without Brown, who had difficulties in bad. And for all the time in which Brown was on the bench, they played big, with two guards, Tatum, Al Horford and Porzi.

With a sequence-one layup and a blow on the other end-it was not good, the Porziis' problems illustrate quite well. In the four games, the Celtics were exceeded by 11 points (8.9 per 100 possessions) on the floor in 63 minutes with two bigs (a combination of Horford, Porzi ņģis and Luke Koret).

As things stand, a line -up with the five best players of the Celtics Payton Pritchhard, White, Jrue Holiday, Brown and Horford would be. This list actually played more minutes in the playoffs (12) than in the regular season (10).

In this series, the Celtics played a total of 13 minutes on the floor with Pritchard, White and public holidays. These minutes were not offensive (31 points on 32 possessions), especially because the Celtics only shot 2-to-15 from 3-point range. And they could obviously be a challenge for defense, especially on the glass.

But we will probably see more small ball in game 5, and it could help to ignite the Celtics's drive-and-kick game. Sam Hauser, who missed the last three games with an ankle injury, is probably classified for game 5. When he plays, he gives the Celtics more options with only one big one on the floor.

---

3 .. Can the kinks make a better start?

The Knicks have shown a remarkable ability to return from major deficits in this series, but they would certainly like to avoid these deficits in the future. Surprisingly, they lost the first quarter with at least 11 points in six of their eight meetings with the Celtics this season.

Their expenses in the first quarter were at both ends of the soil. Boston scored 135.6 points per 100 possessions and New York scored only 91.8 per 100 in 96 minutes in the first quarter in the eight games.

At the beginning of the first quarter of game 4, some missed jumper (good looks of shooters that were not yet warm) held the kinks from defensive. Tatum Fire started late in the first (after the Knicks had come back and the leadership had taken place) and the Celtics scored 12 points on their last four possessions.

The success at one end of the floor helps the other end. If the kinks can only include one or the other, you should be able to avoid another ugly start.

---

4. Can the Celtics get a clutch bucket?

While the Knicks struggled early, they were very late. Six of their seven victories in the playoffs were within five points in the last five minutes, with the exception of game 1 of the first round, when they turned a deficit in the fourth quarter with a 21-0 run with a run of 13 points.

The Celtics were great last season in the coupling (27-12, including playoffs) and in the regular season (league-best-24-11), but are 1: 4 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes.

In this series, Boston scored 12 points with 24 clutch-offensive owners and shot 3-against-23 (13%) from the field, including 1-by-11 from the 3-point area. You have more clutch sales (four) than field goals.

By Tuesday, 53% of the playoff games were within five points in the last five minutes, compared to 46% in the regular season. Since this is the slowest series of the conference semi-final, it is not unlikely that we have more clutch time in game 5.

If we do that, the Celtics have to make one or two shots.

* * *

John Schuhmann is a high -ranking statistical analyst at NBA.com. You can send him an email Herefind His archive here And Follow him on X.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or its Warner Bros. Discovery.