Celtics-Knicks: 5 snack bar when New York storms back to Stun Boston

Boston – The New York Knicks did it again.

In the third quarter of game 1 in the third quarter of Game 2 20.

Two huge comebacks. Huge games at both ends of the floor. Contributions from all in the rotation. Two incredible victories … on the street … against the defending NBA champions.

This was a little uglier, but just as breathtaking, a 92: 91 victory that gave the Knicks an unlikely 2-0 lead over the Boston Celtics in the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference.

The score was 73-53 Celtics in the first 33 minutes and 38-17 Knicks in the past 15 years. Jalen Brunson scored the crucial points on the free -wire line with 12.7 seconds ahead, and Mikal Bridges came with the defense stop that sealed the game.

“These are the playoffs,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau afterwards. “You have to continue fighting. Every possession is important and you have to play every 48 minutes.”

Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and films after shocking three days in the TD Garden …

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1. Déjà vu again

The Knicks became goalless in their first nine possessions of the game, had four points together with just over four minutes in the first quarter and only 33 in the first and third quarter.

Although the offensive of the Celtics was not much better than in game 1, they were still 16 at 8 1/2 minutes. But then they only achieved one of their next 12 possessions, and that was a transition leak that led to Derrick White two free throws.

The Celtics came up empty on the half court. In this route they were 0-by-13 from the field (0-by-7 from a 3-point range), with five boys contributing to all these errors. There were some great looks, but they didn't go in.

Brunson even got a few stops. He switched twice to Jaylen Brown, one of the matchups that the Celtics worked on getting all series. But Brown briefly came on a jump hook and an elbow jumper over the Knicks point. White recovered the second of these shots, but missed a point in tip.

After the Knicks rose three with a 19-2 run, Jayson Tatum attacked Karl-Anthony Towns in the pick-and-roll and climbed into the line. The Celtics got a stopover and then they finally got a bucket.

After a break, they decided to integrate the ball on the back material. This made it possible to go downhill by using an Al Horford screen in Midcourt and blew back from Mitchell Robinson for Dunk with 18.5 seconds.

After Brunson withdrawn the Knicks by turning Jrue Holiday past and pulling a foul, the Celtics decided to play the same game.

This time OG Anunoby was not completely taken out of the game on the screen, and Robinson was able to stop initial pressure. Tatum tried to cross and drive to the left, but lost a little bit.

There was bodies in color, so he tried to get a stepper from the left baseline with a four -second lead. Then Bridges left Jaylen Brown and Smermed Tatum.

Bridges was initially attributed a block and a rebound, but the official score was later changed to a bargain. Tatum saw the double team, but only a second too late. He tried to step back to Brown, but Bridges was everywhere with his seven -foot wingspan everywhere.

In the last two games of the Celtics, the Knicks Brunson and cities were able to get off the ground. Robinson could not contain Tatum on the first, but the defensive line -up of the Knicks received the last stop.

“We simply couldn't convert in the fourth quarter,” said Brown. “It came up with that. Our defense, I thought, was great. We had physicality, we had energy in defense. Our offenses let us down.”

The Celtics have now achieved 38 points for 50 possessions in the fourth quarter and overtime in this series. You shot 11-by-53 (21%) in these 29 minutes.

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2. Bridges lifts Knicks in the fourth

Although the comeback of the Knicks started, Bridges had no points at the end of the third quarter of game 2 after giving them all eight of his shots. But his night was anything but over.

Bridges scored 14 points of the Knicks 30 points in the last period, with his six field goals one being more than the Celtics in the last 12 minutes.

Bridges scored nine of the first 11 points of the Knicks and defeated vacation one to one to put the kinks within 12. So the Knicks held the ball in their hands, even after the Kia Clutch player of the year (Brunson) checked into the game with 6:39 on the left.

This selection paid off when bridges defeated the vacation for a opposite that made it a 10-point game …

Next possession: transition 3.

Brunson, Towns and Josh Hart then completed the goal, but the Knicks returned to this game because Bridges' fourth quarter of Flurry. He went from 0: 8 to Jrue Pleeping Holiday in several possessions in the fourth quarter to bring his team to an incredible victory. And of course he completed it with the defensive game of the night.

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3. Hart makes Celtics pay for leaving him alone

When the last buzzer sounded on Wednesday and was without a look at the box score, it would have had a hard time identifying the leading goal scorer of the game. It wasn't Brunson or cities, Tatum or Brown.

It was Josh Hart, who scored 23 points (one of his career playoffs up) at 9-against-15 shootout.

The Celtics were very willing to help the non-shop in the starting line-up of the Knicks. And this help led to two of the 16 sales of the Knicks (defenders who had hard to dig against the Knicks-Ballhandler) and a few blocks when Al Horford ran hard on the double cities on the post.

But the non-shooter is now 11-against-25 (44%) from 3-point range in the playoffs, it gave the kink an urgently needed transitional sentence, and it was able to take advantage of the disinterest of the Celtics when guarding the Celtics interest interest.

Hart was 3 against 6 by Beyond The Arc on Wednesday and he made himself available when the Celtics invited against Brunson.

In the fourth quarter, after he had set a screen for bridges, freely ran into the glass, got the offensive rebound and fed Brunson for a 3 pointer who received the Knicks within six.

Later he was able to drive past Horford's degree after the great man of Celtics hung in color …

“He's really smart,” said Thibodeau. “He plays much greater than its size. The back rash, but also the end capability inside. But he worked a lot on his shootings. If they leave him open, he doesn't hesitate. He only lets it fly. I think that's huge for us.”

Despite the 23 points in game 2, will remain open. As a team, the Knicks in this series only achieved 100.5 points per 100 possessions. So it is not the case that the overall strategy of the Celtics does not work.

And New York's chances of achieving two more victories can continue to depend on Hart's ability to take pictures and play games.

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4. Porziis remains a non-factor

Kristaps Porziņģis played only 12:58 in game 1, turned 0: 4 and missed the entire second half because of an illness. It was available for game 2, but came from the bank for the first time this season.

Porziis scored eight points at 3: 5 shooting, with a large dunk started the fourth quarter. But still seemed to hinder what he has to do.

It wasn't long after this dark that he signaled the bank that he had to get out of the game. He checked the left with 8:27 after playing only 1:53 p.m. and was exceeded with the Celtics with nine points (they scored only 23 to 26 offensive owners during this time).

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5. Champions shouldn't fold like that

The Celtics are the first team in the 29 years for which we have play-by-play data to lose several playoff games that were listed with at least 20 points.

The increase in the 3-point rate in the past 15 years has increased the deviation from quarter to quarter, but not by a ton. The teams are still 590-34 (.946) in games that are run with at least 20 points this season.

It is even more important that the first team to blow two 20-point playoff leads should not be the team that dominated the post-season a year earlier and never felt threatened on the way to the title. It shouldn't be “oh no, we go here again” fear in the building with 18 championship banners on the ceiling.

But it was the same Celtics that lost no more than one game in a series that was separated in a row twice this year. The last 51 hours have delivered more drama than their entire trip to the title 2023-24.

“It is an opportunity to show what we are made of,” said Brown. “Obviously we don't want to be in this position, but we are here now. So we have to answer.”

The Celtics will travel to New York with knowledge that they played better on the street than at home. When they played outside of Boston in the regular season, they enforced the opponents by 9.5 points per 100 possessions, the second best street brand in the 29 seasons for which we have play-by-play data.

You are not finished yet, but on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) in Madison Square Garden you have to show a championship in game 3 in game 3.

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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.

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