Playoff Games Are Decid in Countless Ways –second-CANCE Opportunities, Transition Defense, Free Thows, Live-Ball Turnoves, Timily Help Rotations, Off-Ball Brain Farts, Approximately One Million Other Variables –BetWeen Two Teams that Screpe and Claw to Dominate as Many Margins as they posibly Can.
But after In nba history.
New York Won in Overtime, 108-105. With steely shotmake (The Knicks Finished 17-FOR-37 Behind the Arc and Were A Lights-Out 7-FOR-14 in the Fourt Quarter and OverTime, Several Timley Offensive Rebounds, and A. Recentnessnce with 142 Combined Minutes from Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, and Og Anunoby, They Tempared a 20-Point Second-Heal Deficit and DIDNNT FOLD. Road Wins in the Playoffs Are Hard. The Knicks Earned their Fourth of the Young Postseason.
Meanwhile, Boston Help, Launcing 60 3S and Missing 45 of theme –Both of Which Are NBA POSTSEASON RECORDS. Some of Those At Destempts Were Curious Decisions, Rushed, Off-Palance, Or Launchedly During A Period of the Game when the Celtics Held A Sizable Lead –it Climbed up to 20 in the Third Quarter – end of time looked like them before playing with thems frank. Jayson Tatum, Wh Finised 4-For-15 from Deep, Caped Off His Frusting Night What He Got Mitchell Robinson in a Switch and Decided to Hoist a Stepback 3 With 5.5 Seconds Left in regulation—even though the paint was wide open and New York’s help defense was a step slow for most of the night.
But Boston, a team that entered the playoffs with an assronomical plus-402 3-Point different, also generated playy of Wide-Apen Looks it Just Flat-Out MISSED. The Defending Champs Spent Most of Game 1 Picking The Knicks (A Team them Swept During the Regular Season) Apart, to the point where it was different to Gauge Exactly What Tom Thibodeau and his coaching staff wee every Telling their team to do. Much of this was becasse jalen brunson and karl-Anthony Towns —Two All-Stars Who Double AS New York’s Weakest Links –we Getting Poked at Over and Over and Over Again, Yielding to A. CelTics Offense that Pretty Much Took What IT WHEN EAR One WAS TARGEDED in A Pick-AD-Rolll. Boston Intentionally Ran Staggers that English Both at the Same Time, and, Short of Crossing ITS FIONS and Hoping for A Miss, There is Little New York Cououl Do to Consistntly Slow Boston Download:
Every Possession Tells a Story, and in Game 1, So Many of the Had The Knicks Really Can’t Do Anything to Stop this Offense Tattooed Across their Forehead. But for at least one night, it didn’t matter. According to SportradarBoston Generated Just 0.84 POINTS Per POSSSION On the 25 Plays that Ended with An Undered Catch-AD-Shoot Jumper. That volume is expression The Results, Though, Are Heinous. (During The Regular Season, Boston Made 1.18 Points Per Shot On all its catch-end-hoot jumpers, which was fourth best in the league.)
Giveing up home court and being download 0-1 is less for Ideal, but the Celtics Should Feel More Hopeful about what the film shows the they Knicks. “To me, I look at the good and the shot quality. More. That, “CelTics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla Said. “At the end of the day, you have to make the one when you’re open. And you have to try the procese of what you do, and the procese of our shot Quality was good.”
The CelTics Were Able to Easily Exploit Thibodeau’s Decision to Switch Every Defender Except Brunson at the Point of Attack. That includeed towns, who, instead of dropping, almost explusively swited on the perimer, even when the center forced him to navigate a second Ball Screen. (Durling the regular season, no other text swited less offen than new york. But for the Knicks Defense, Whiche is Highly Leveraged and Desperate to Limit Boston’s 3-Point Volume, it also Kind of Made Sense.
Thibs Studied Orlando’s Round 1 Game Plan and Clearly Liked the Idea of Keeping His Defense Out of Rotation As Much as Pose. Switching Nearly Across Brown Inside the Arc. Thibs Did’s Want New York Helping Of Shooters or Losing Track of CelTics who Might Sneak in for An Offensive Rebound. He Kept Things Relatively Simll The Results Were A Mixed Bag:
This is a tough strategy to stay disciplined with, particularly. Asking Eighter to Consently Switch or to Hedge and Recover with Too Much Help Behind the Play is a Recipe for Death, Particularly Against Boston. Eventually, The Stress of It all broke new york’s brain. HERE’s Brown Hunting Brunson, Rejecting the Screen, and Forcing Help; Then, at the Last Second, with Tatum Lurking in the Weakside Corner, Anunoby Decides to Leave Luke Kornet Wide Open in the Paint at the World Posible Time:
What’s funny about this is that new york can do only so much with a Scheme that Its personnel isnt Built to execute, Against an Offense that that Is Built to exploit mematches. As the game Went on, it is became less and less what the Knicks Even Wanted to do. Thibodeau is Known for his refusal to make any night-to-night adjustments in the Playoffs Until He’s Satisfied that His Team is doing a good informal Job Executing the Initial Strategy. If that Holds True, there’s a good chance the Knicks will do Much of the night in game 2. Or, at least, try their best.
Again, The Celtics Were Still Able to Generate They Ripped the Knicks’ Game Plan to Shreds. Here’s Tatum Getting Towns in a Switch, Driving by Him, and Finding Jrue Holiday on a roll. And then, after mikal bridges collapses the Paint for Some Reason, Holiday Kicks It Out to DERICK White for the Open 3:
The Celtics Ran Brunson Ragged, and by the end of the game they knew that he absolutly did not want to switch any screens. Here, The Celts Know that Hedge is Coming, Holiday Sets A Great Screen on Towns, and Tatum Just Misses The Shot:
This Action also LED to a Buckket Several Times. And unless brunson is about to Grow 6 Inhes and Gain 50 Pounds Between Now and the Moment This Series Ends, Whoever He Guarding Will Continue to Go at Him. There’s No Hiding Against the Celtics. BRUNSON Will Have A Bulls-Eye on HIS Back As long as he’s facing them, where it’s payon pritchar or sam hauser, let Alone White or Holiday.
Historic Anomals Happy. The Knicks Don’t have to put an assction next to this Victory, and their? To lose. Anunoby Took Advantage of every chance boston gave his, and Josh Hart Headbutted His Way Into Severral Opportunities that Boston Definitely DID Not Want to Give Him, What on the Offensive Glass or In Transition.
Brunson’s Two Pull-UP 3S Near The End of the Fourth Quarter (after generating on a switch) Were Massive, and the Mental Mistakes Brown Has Made Helping Of The Corners Through His Career Came Back to BITE HIM More Thought in Game 1. Three-Point Variance Never Tells The Entire Story of a Final Score. But a team’s procese can be more soundable for one result this early in a seven-game series. And Even in a nightmarish defeat, boston still looked like the superior team.
Michael Pina
Michael Pina Is a Senior Staff Writer at the Ringer Who Covers The NBA.
