BSJ Game Report: Knicks 108, Celtics 105 (OT) - C's offense craters in Game 1 loss

Everything you need to know about the Celtics overtime loss to the Knicks in Game 1 of their East semifinal series, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A  NUTSHELL

The teams shot 19 combined free throws in the first, but the Celtics came out of it up one thanks to 13 from Jayson Tatum. Jaylen Brown matched that in the second quarter as Boston opened up a 16-point halftime lead. It got to 20 but the Knicks went on a 20-6 run and ended the third quarter down nine. The Celtics heavy reliance on 3-pointers continued to fail them as New York took a seven-point lead in the fourth, but the Celtics recovered to force OT. The Knicks owned the extra period, stealing Game 1 and home court. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Offense disappears: The Celtics had a fairly even shooting split, 32 3-point attempts, 26 2-point attempts, when the score was 75-55. They were scoring at a rate of 121 points per 100 possessions, right at that elite spot we all expected. After that, it dropped to 76.9, which is what a college team would look like if it got an exhibition against an NBA team. That is what we call cratering. 

- Kristaps Porzingis disappears: He didn’t look great early on, but he had some chances that he just botched. Then he left the bench in the second quarter and never came back. He looked pretty serious coming down the hallway for second half warmups, but that might have been a result of whatever illness he was dealing with. He turned right around and walked back into the locker room, never to be seen again in this game. 

- Home court disappears: The Celtics are the best road team in the NBA, so it might not matter, but the Knicks now have home court advantage. The Celtics will need to win at least one on the road to get that back. 

TURNING POINT 

The Celtics fell apart after taking a 20-point lead with 5:47 to go in the third. Pick the run you want to go with. 20-6? 31-11? 53-30? Any of those apply after the Celtics led 75-55. 

THINGS I LIKED

- The first half: This is going to be my catch-all for things that happened before the collapse. I didn’t think the Celtics played particularly great basketball for most of this game. In fact, during the live blog I said “The Celtics are shooting 26% from 3 and they've gotten nothing from Porzingis and they're up 20 on the Knicks.” 

Mostly, I liked how much they attacked and how they got to the line. They were more aggressive and it helped them put up a lot of points. Tatum and Brown were both pretty good in the first half as well, combining for 27 points on 9-22 shooting. They weren’t great from 3, but it was a normal stat line. Brown had 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists while Tatum had 13/7/1. 

I also liked their defense a lot better. They held New York to 25 and 20 points in the first half, limiting Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns and not paying too steep a price for playing off role players. 

- Jrue Holiday: I’m separating him from the rest because I thought he was generally pretty good in this game, which was nice to see after the hamstring injury. 

“Jrue was being Jrue Holiday,” Tatum said. “Swiss Army knife, a guy that does a little bit of everything for us. I was excited, everybody was excited that he's back and he was able to play tonight."

- Payton Pritchard: He did all his scoring in the first half, but I thought his aggressiveness was great. He was the only one finishing around the rim, it seemed, for a while. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Abandoning the offense: This is obviously the big story of the game, so I’m going to get into this in greater detail, but the Celtics completely got away from what had worked. The Celtics took 19 3-pointers and ONE two-pointer in the third quarter. The split was 15/6 in the fourth. 

But after the 3:28 mark when Boston fought back from a six-point deficit? It was an even seven 2-pointers and seven 3-pointers, and Boston won those minutes by three. 

Tatum's shot selection was particularly egregious. How many times do I say the fourth quarter is about making buckets? Teams can go on runs to catch up if you're making buckets? Just get to a spot on the floor where shots are falling and hit them from there. There was no need for all those step-back 3-pointers.

- Kristaps Porzingis: He played 13 minutes, went 0-4 with a couple of missed layups and a turnover. He left in the second quarter, came out for warmups at halftime, and then left again with an illness. He gave Boston zero points

- Sam Hauser: He barely played, but when he finally checked in in the third quarter, he played four minutes, missed two 3-pointers badly, and then turned his ankle. He was a -7 in that limited time. 

- Leaving the wrong guys open: “I think we left some of their good shooters open,” Joe Mazzulla said. “I think (OG) Anunoby went on a small run by himself.” 

Anunoby finished with 29 points after a 20-point second half where he shot 4-6 from 3. This is the opposite of attention to detail.

HIGHLIGHTS

THREE TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- There is a positive spin, if you want it. 

I’m not saying this part to excuse anything, because the Celtics had this game and they gave it away. 

At the same time, the Celtics did all these things wrong, made all those mistakes defensively, and it took overtime to beat them by three. The Celtics, with all their faults, with getting nothing from Porzingis, and settling as much as they did, were two made 3-pointers away from winning this game. 

They deserve all the criticism they’ll get for this loss. I’m not trying to take that away from anyone. I am saying, though, that it took an NBA record for misses for the Celtics to completely piss this game away. 

The Cavs, Celtics, and Thunder all lost Game 1 at home to start this second round, in case anyone is coming out of this night worried. 

- This is what I was worried about after a 4-0 regular season. 

I asked Mazzulla on Friday about all the praise the team was getting and how dangerous that might be. His answer was all about the margins and attention to detail that he always talks about, highlighting all the little things they need to do to win. 

He wasn’t wrong, but the point remains that Boston going 20 on what wasn’t their best night probably gave them a little bit of an overconfident feeling. They were about to blow the Knicks out playing mediocre basketball. 

They were filled with confidence from the 4-0 regular season and probably felt like this one was in the bag. That's why they settled. Because they knew they could turn it on when they needed to. 

It almost worked. They just waited a little too long to do it. 

- Karl-Anthony Towns is unreliable. 

I’m being nice here. No one should be happier about this Celtics collapse than Towns. He absolutely sucked in this game and was part of the reason why the Knicks were down as big as they were. 

He looks like a muppet on his drives to the rim. His limbs are out of control and flailing like they're being controlled by a puppeteer in the rafters. He can’t be counted on to perform in these big moments. Keep going at him and the Celtics will be fine. 

Next up: The Celtics host Game 2 at 7 p.m. Wednesday night