The Celtics were sitting on a 16-point lead at halftime. Both they and the Knicks had hit five 3-pointers in the first half and they had nearly the same amount of free throw attempts (Boston had 20, New York had 19). The difference in the game was the Celtics hit eight more from the line and they made four more two-point baskets.
The formula was there for Game 1.
It wasn’t the prettiest half in the world, but the Celtics were cruising, outscoring the Knicks by 15 in the second quarter despite only hitting one 3-pointer in those 12 minutes. Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson went into the break with three fouls each, meaning Boston had the pigeons in their crosshairs after halftime.
But that's not how it went.
The third quarter seemed to go well enough to start. Boston hit four of their first nine 3-point attempts, and with an Al Horford dunk mixed in, the Celtics were up 20 about halfway through the quarter. The Knicks answered with a small run of their own, slowly starting the process of walking down Boston’s lead. By the end of the quarter, The Celtics were up only nine.
“Energy just kind of went their way,” Jrue Holiday said. “They kind of put in their second unit and moved the ball a little better. Knocked down some threes, McBride had some big ones, Anunoboy played well and just kind of cranked up the energy.”
Of course they had energy. The Knicks shaky defense which allowed Boston to live at the line early in the game was no longer being tested with drives. The Celtics resorted to almost exclusively 3-pointers in the third, taking 19 of their 20 shots from beyond the arc. They missed 12.
“They were able to get out and transition off of some of our misses,” Joe Mazzulla said after the Game 1 loss. “If you look at that run, I thought we missed some good ones. And I thought there was obviously a few that we could fight to get better at.”
The Celtics were winning the fight for most of the night. When the lead ballooned to 20, it seemed like Boston started looking to land head shots instead of continuing to build their lead organically through good ball movement.
Like an overconfident boxer with an opponent on the ropes, the Celtics started head-hunting. After a 4-0 regular season and a big lead built while playing okay but not great basketball, the Celtics didn’t seem to have much reason to fear a Knicks comeback. Instead of putting in the hard work of attacking, bending the defense, and finding cracks, the Celtics took the easy way out and hoped good, but not great, looks from 3 would be enough to get the job done.
“I could have put more pressure on the rim, but there's a lot of times we felt like we got some really, really good looks and just couldn't convert,” Jayson Tatum said. “Obviously, in hindsight, if we could go back, we probably would drive the ball a little bit more because we missed a lot of shots tonight. But, it's a balance. Sometimes it’s a make or miss league, and then there's sometimes where you can get a better shot.”
There was certainly a level of make/miss involved with their shooting. They missed an NBA record 45 3-pointers in Game 1. There had to be some flat-out bad shooting luck involved with that many misses, and if a few of those shots go Boston’s way, then this result is different and people are feeling much better. But the quality of their shots has to improve.
Maybe they took so many 3-pointers against New York because they got so few against Orlando that they couldn't pass up any halfway decent looks. It was almost as if the Celtics started binge drinking after dry January.
But just because they seemingly can take as many 3-pointers as they want, it doesn’t mean they should. Maybe it was good for them to be reminded of that early on in this series so they can refocus.
Yes, they love to shoot 3-pointers, but just like everything else, a little moderation goes a long way.
“It’s just being poised to recognize when to take it and when not to take it,” Jaylen Brown said. “I don’t think we did a good job tonight of seeing the game, understanding the game. We were just firing it up for whatever reason. We’ve got to find a better rhythm to the paint, get a paint touch, get to the free-throw line and those 3s feel a little better. But we’ll look at it. Obviously we were excited to start the second round of the playoffs, but we’ve got to play with more poise than we did tonight.”
