Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics 96-92 loss to the New York Knicks with BSJ insight and analysis
HEADLINES
The young guys put a scare into the Knicks: This really felt like I was watching a typical Celtics game this season from the opponent’s point of view. The Knicks should have put the Celtics away at many different points, and when they imposed their will they got the game to 20. But give credit to a group of guys who rarely play together, they got this to a one-point game and had their chances to tie or take a lead. The shots didn't fall and the Knicks finally did get a stop, but it was fun to watch them make New York sweat.
“The last group played with great poise, great purpose, communicated well defensively,” Brad Stevens said after the game. “I tweaked some things defensively and I thought they did a good job.”
Welcome to .500: We spent a lot of this season calling the Celtics average, and this is where they ended up. The loss to New York dropped them to 36-36 on the season. It’s appropriate for this year’s team.
Boston vs. Washington on Tuesday night: Washington beat the Charlotte Hornets and grabbed the eighth seed. The Celtics will host Washington Tuesday night with the winner locking themselves into the seventh seed and a date with the second seed (either Brooklyn or Milwaukee). The loser plays the winner of the 9/10 game on Thursday for the right to the eighth seed, so a win will give Boston at least a couple extra days to prepare for the first round. Two losses will end their season.
TURNING POINT
After a Tremont Waters steal and layup to cut the lead to one, Reggie Bullock answered with a jumper and Luke Kornet missed a 3-pointer that could have tied the game. The Celtics never scored again over the final 2:13.
FOUR UP
Tremont Waters: Waters carried the Celtics in the fourth quarter with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals while playing all 12 minutes. He was hitting his 3-pointers, attacking, and defending.
Jabari Parker: He had a bit of a throwback game, leading the Celtics with 18 points on 6-10 shooting. He even hit a 3 and got to the line six times. The Celtics needed a scorer on the floor, and Parker has been able to at least do that over his career.
Grant Williams: He had a very good stretch to start the half where he was doing a little bit of everything. He was a pretty good offensive player in college and he flexed some of that game for a little bit to keep the C’s close.
Romeo Langford: He showed some of that defensive prowess that earned him playoff minutes last season. He had a couple of steals and breakaways for easy layups. But...
THREE DOWN
Romeo Langford: ... Romeo took a foul at the end of the game with about 24.9 seconds on the game clock but 18 seconds on the shot clock and Boston down 3. That reset the shot clock to 24, so instead of being able to defend, get a stop, and call timeout to draw up a play with five or six seconds on the clock, Boston then had no choice but to foul.
Payton Pritchard: Rough shooting day for Pritchard, who has normally been reliable all season. He only scored 6 points on 2-10 shooting.
Aaron Nesmith: Same story for Nesmith, who was 1-6. He played better overall than Pritchard, but he wasn’t hitting shots like he had been during his recent stretch of good play.
TOP PLAY
🔨 still in this pic.twitter.com/LRh4vVOwJC
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 16, 2021
ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
This game was very valuable for the guys on the floor. Not really so much for the Celtics, who will likely not play many of the players who took the floor in this game. However, Waters, Tacko Fall, Carsen Edwards, Luke Kornet, and Semi Ojeleye are all strong candidates to be elsewhere next season. A nationally televised game putting a big-time scare into the fourth-seed was just the place for good performances.
“We know this is the last game of the season and (the Knicks were) fighting for something but we also wanted to do it for ourselves,” Waters said after the game. “It’s our last regular-season game and we just wanted to go out there and fight, do the best we can, and pretty much show that we're still fighters and that we're still hoopers; we're still able to go out there and play our best when our best is needed."
Now comes the tough part for these guys, who are all on the fringes of the league. They all displayed their best and worst in this game, and NBA front offices love to harp on what a player can’t do versus roll with what he can.
Waters is an especially interesting case because his biggest flaw, his height, is something that can’t be fixed. He has a very good feel for the game and while he sometimes tries to do too much, he often can make special plays. He needs time to play and develop, and the lack of a G League this season truly set him back a bit in that regard.
Still, he balled out against a very tough Knicks team, and someone is going to take notice of that. Whether it’s in the NBA or a league outside of the country, Waters will have a job playing basketball next year if he wants it. The question for him is whether he’s going to accept something around the league minimum, or if he’ll see an opportunity overseas for more money as a better option.