NBA Notebook: This Looks like a Knicks Team Built to Push Celtics

NEW YORK — The New York Knicks lost their biggest game since the 1990s on Saturday. 

There was a case, with an opportunity to ensure a monumental upset series win over the champion Celtics, that Saturday's Game 3 surpassed any since the 1999 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden.

"We certainly appreciate our fans and being home and all that," Tom Thibodeau said. "You have to earn your wins, so don't get lost in the emotion of the game." 

The Knicks' wins came in large part from self-inflicted mistakes by the Celtics. Between injuries, questionable coaching calls, and the worst start to the series imaginable by Jayson Tatum, the Knicks built a 2-0 lead in a series nobody, not even New York fans, gave the Knicks much hope of competing in. New York lost all four games to the Celtics during the regular season by an average of 16 points per game. Tatum led a 50% field goal and 40% three-point shooting performance by the team in the matchup, while Boston overcame a double-digit deficit in their April New York trip the the Knicks had to have as they battled for the three seed and hoped to avoid a winless season against Boston, Oklahoma City and Cleveland. 

Everyone knew the Knicks were good, 51-21 against everyone else, but their upgrades didn't seem to solve the problem they were trying to solve.

Until now. 

Mikal Bridges made the game-winning defensive stops in Games 1-2 while OG Anunoby shut down Tatum and Jaylen Brown in separate assignments against the star guards. In Game 1, Anunoby and Bridges flanked Tatum's driving lanes while the Knicks switched to allow Tatum to line up Jalen Brunson. He couldn't beat him into the paint with help lurking. In Game 2, Anunoby more directly shadowed Tatum, limiting his attempts while Tatum only scored two points before halftime. The defensive wrinkles were ones that the Celtics hadn't seen all year. 

"These are things that you're working on all year long," Thibodeau said. "You go into a season and you've already determined who your switching partners are. Ok, so these are the guys who you're automatically going to switch with in dribble handoffs and pick-and-rolls. Then you add to it as the season goes along. Then there are some guys that you're gonna blitz with, some guys you're gonna go under on. So there are gonna be different things and I think you have to be adept at all those things." 

New York sacrificed RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, depth and various future first-round picks to acquire the wings who didn't seem to make a difference during the regular season. The Karl-Anthony Towns trade put them in a worse position defensively at center. The Knicks fell from a top-10 defense in 2024 to 13th, losing roughly one point per possession off their defensive average. Their identity shifted toward offense, finishing fifth on that end, but still two points per 100 short of the Celtics. 

But despite those challenges, it's all coming together now, even for Towns, who faced foul trouble in Game 1 and a has only generated one three-point attempt in two games. He scored 21 points with 17 rebounds on Wednesday. 

"I do more than shoot threes," Towns said after Game 2. "I work tremendously hard on my game, on my craft, so whatever it takes to win I'll do. I just try to always give our coaching staff versatility ... if you're not having me shoot threes, I can dominate in the paint ... I'm more than just a three-point shooter." 

When Bridges flew in to read Derrick White's in-bounds pass, ripping it from Brown and securing the Knicks' Game 1 win in overtime, he tossed the ball down the floor. Bridges scored only eight points in 51 minutes, his offense mostly a disappointment compared to his Brooklyn productivity prior to the trade. The moment felt capable of unlocking him. It didn't for most of Game 2, he entered the fourth quarter scoreless, until he snuck past Al Horford and Kristaps Porziņģis on the baseline to pull up for a two. He hit another against a Payton Pritchard contest. He hit a pull-up three, then three straight baskets minutes later that pulled the Knicks within seven points and shocked the crowd. 

They saw the same Celtics collapse from Game 1 happening as Bridges dropped 14 fourth-quarter points. 

For Anunoby, who held Tatum and Brown to a combined 3-for-14 across the two wins, the defensive pain he inflicted on the Celtics turned into offensive opportunities for the Knicks. He scored 29 points in Game 1, left alone for threes and catching multiple long passes in transition for finishes. In overtime, he back cut Tatum and dunk through him, starting the extra period with a three-point play. He posted-up Tatum on the next possession, drew in Brown from the corner and kicked to Bridges in the corner, who delivered the game-icing shot in the series opener -- off the backboard from the corner. 

"Staying with it, missing a lot of shots that I'm upset with myself about missing," Bridges said. "The basketball gods blessed me from staying with it because it banked. I realized how I banked in a corner three ... we just feed off everybody. I think all the energy, Josh being there after the steal for the outlet ... the more days, the more time we get around each other on both ends. It's been a long year, we continue to keep getting better and learn from each other, just stacking days. We're here, we're just trying to play hard and win games. Obviously, the regular season, we just gotta learn from it ... I think the last game of the regular season helped us show we could (compete with Boston) ... we're in the playoffs now, so all that stuff's out the window." 

Injuries doomed a potential Celtics-Knicks East Finals last spring when Brunson, Anunoby and Julius Randle couldn't reach the end of a seven-game Pacers series. Randle injured his shoulder, Anunoby tried and failed to run up and down the floor on his bad hamstring, and Brunson broke his hand on a freak play late in the series. Isaiah Hartenstein, the team's breakthrough force at center with Mitchell Robinson out for the year, entered free agency. 

When the team traded Bojan Bogdanović and others to the Nets for Bridges, reuniting him with college teammates Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo, they became hard-capped and had little hope of retaining Hartenstein. Robinson still had months of recovery ahead from ankle surgery, and uncertainty surrounded Randle's return from a potential shoulder surgery. Tom Thibodeau teased a Randle move to center, while poor playoff performances plagued the star's mostly successful Knicks career. 

The Towns trade stunned the league, a move by the Timberwolves to get ahead of the second apron and tax penalties about to impact Minnesota's new ownership group. The Wolves wanted to build around Anthony Edwards, paid Rudy Gobert handsomely to harden their defense and other pay days loomed across the roster. Towns, playing on a super max, had to go, and the Wolves saw cheaper supporting cast members in Randle, who could fill Towns' role at the four, and DiVincenzo, who could spark the team's bench after finishing third in made threes in 2024. 

But the deal broke up the Villanova crew that never received a chance to play together in New York. Towns, who's fought his own playoff demons, prepared to move back to center, a position that's challenged him defensively. He shook off some of his past struggles on the way to the West finals with Minnesota last year, dominated the Pistons with 19.7 PPG and 10.0 RPG while shooting 48% from both the field and from three. Foul trouble, his biggest enemy, hit him again in Game 1 with five, but he completed the game without fouling out. 

"It's just a different physicality than the Detroit series," Towns said. "So we gotta adjust. I gotta adjust, especially. We keep positioning ourselves in these kind of games ... but we've done a great job in the last series of putting ourselves in a position to have a chance to win." 

The Knicks played in five first-round clutch time finishes through their six-game first-round series with Detroit. They won three of them by an average of 2.9 points per 100 possessions in those scenarios. The last one -- a potentially series-saving stretch in Game 6 in Detroit, where they overcame a late seven-point deficit after squandering a double-digit lead to begin the fourth. Brunson delivered the game-winning step-back 3 over Ausar Thompson, who hounded him defensively all game. The physical Pistons, whom the Knicks beat in all three road games in the series, set New York up to challenge Boston immediately in TD Garden. 

Joe Mazzulla studied the way the Knicks positioned themselves to play in crunch time in the previous series following a first round where the Celtics struggled offensively themselves in Orlando. They lost Game 3 with Jaylen Brown stuck off the court in foul trouble, a Mazzulla miscue in being unable to get him back until the Celtics had one possession left, trailing by four points. He redeemed himself by getting Porziņģis back in the game for the decisive basket in Game 4 late, but the Celtics' clutch offense left much to be desired. They had the chance to avoid those situations by building two 20-point leads to begin the second round, but a combination of taking 37 of their final 49 shots from three in Game 1, which bailed the Knicks out of their foul trouble and only allowed the Celtics to shoot six second half free throws, and sloppy possessions trying to force the ball inside late in Game 2 led to unthinkable Boston meltdowns. 

But the Knicks made things difficult. Constantly creeping within 10-12 points, switching the Porziņģis pick-and-roll early in Game 1 after not doing so all season, and playing their pinch-the-lane strategy before returning to more traditional coverages in Game 2. That's the versatility they hoped Anunoby and Bridges would provide when the Knicks constructed this roster, and however much the Celtics botched opportunities to put them away, New York now had a chance at Madison Square Garden to finalize one of the great upsets in NBA history. Instead, Boston played to its shooting strength, cut off the Knicks' attempts and finish 20-for-40 from three to save its season.

New York limited attempts in the way it wanted to. Quicker slips, more post-ups and paint touches, along with a stronger offensive pace counteracted the ways the Knicks beat them in Boston. The Celtics led wire-to-wire in Game 3, a reminder that New York was only ahead for just over 12 minutes combined across its wins. They haven't solved Boston. Nor have they fractured the three-point identity that the Celtics will need to reverse their largest series deficit since the 2023 East Finals. But in a series that's still completely up in the air to begin this week, the Knicks' formula is coming to fruition.

"It was really just being more confident and letting it fly," Pritchard said. "Don’t second-guess a good shot. You come off a ball screen and it’s there, who cares what the outside world is saying ... getting off social media, don't listen to the TV. Only worry about the people that are in this room." 

Here's what else happened around the NBA this week...

Boston (down 1-2 vs. NYK): Stunningly lost back-to-back games by squandering 20-point third-quarter leads to begin a series they opened as overwhelming favorites. Jayson Tatum turned the ball over on the final possession of Game 2 in the exact manner Jaylen Brown did to end overtime in Game 1. Tatum fell to 28.6% from the field on Wednesday, while Kristaps Porziņģis came off the bench in Game 2 after leaving Game 1 in the first half with fatigue and breathing issues stemming from his March illness. He only managed 13 minutes in the following game, and said after that he suffered a crash and expressed devastation that he isn't feeling right in this moment. Sam Hauser, who sprained his right ankle minutes into his first Game 1 stint, missed Game 2 and 3, when the Celtics improbably played for their season and won, 115-93, behind a shooting turnaround. Joe Mazzulla defended the team's Game 1 three-point volume (60 3PA), his decision to not call timeout on the final play of Game 2 and to foul Mitchell Robinson intentionally in both games. Al Horford remained the team's starting center despite hopes that Porziņģis would feel better after two days off. Porziņģis finished 0-for-3 with five points and three blocks in Game 3 across 19 minutes. 

Brooklyn: Lottery night awaits on Monday for a team that leaned into losing despite promising stretches under new head coach Jordi Fernández. They have a 9.0% chance at the No. 1 pick and a 37.2% chance to move from their sixth position in the lottery into the top three. The night could become even more consequential with Zach Lowe indicating the widely-speculated notion that Giannis Antetokounmpo could prefer Brooklyn or New York if he decides to move on from the Bucks this offseason. The Lakers, Clippers, Heat, Chicago and Houston would also fit as large market or glamour destinations, but Antetokounmpo has long been connected to the Nets due to the Knicks going all-in on other stars.

Charlotte: One of the top-three finishers in the lottery standings ahead of Monday's big decision day for the Hornets, Jazz and Wizards after dreadful seasons. They all have 14% chances at the No. 1 overall pick and a 52.1% shot at staying in the top-three. For the Hornets, already building around LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, acquiring consensus No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg would vault the team into a more serious position under second-year head coach Charles Lee. Grant Williams, who's still recovering from ACL surgery, took a moment on Friday to defend his former Celtics teammates as they receive heavy criticism for their start in to the Knicks series. 

Cleveland (down 1-2 vs. IND): Darius Garland missed the first two games of the second round with his ongoing big toe ailment, while Evan Mobley suffered a sprained left ankle and De'Andre Hunter fell with a right thumb sprain. Both missed Game 2, where the Cavs collapsed late and fell behind 0-2 to begin the Pacers series. All three returned on Friday to save Cleveland's season on the road, led by Donovan Mitchell's 43 points in the 126-104 win. Max Strus, red hot and nearly stealing Game 2 short-handed with 23 points, added another 20 with seven rebounds and assists in Game 3. Garland put up only 10 points and three assists in 25 minutes. All four of the other starters logged at least 30 minutes. The Cavs avoided a startling demise after their East-best regular season. But it's clear three of their best players are now less than 100%. 

"I told (Garland), 20% of you, 30% of you is all what we need, man," Mitchell said. "He's fighting and gutting it out. A lot of respect for him."

Dallas: GM Nico Harrison dismissed Mavs trainers Dionne Calhoun and Keith Belton among others in a performance staff shake-up following an injury-riddled season. ESPN reported controversy on the staff surrounding their certification level, disagreement between old and new hires along with a heated confrontation over Belton's handling of Dereck Lively II's stress fracture in his right ankle. Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford and Kyrie Irving also suffered significant injuries during a disastrous Mavericks season. 

Denver (lead 2-1 vs. OKC): Aaron Gordon hit another last-second three to tie Game 3 and force overtime, where the Nuggets pulled away 113-104 to take control of their series against the heavy west favorite Thunder for now. Oklahoma City bounced back from its Game 1 loss where Nikola Jokić scored 42 points with 22 rebounds by beating the Nuggets by 43 points in Game 2. That should serve as some warning to Denver, but Game 3 saw them overcome one of Jokić's worst games all season -- an NBA playoff record 0-for-10 three-point shooting game where he scored 20 points on 8-for-25 shooting. Jamal Murray (27 points), stellar all postseason, Michael Porter Jr. (21 pts) playing hurt and Gordon's 22 picked him up and gave the Nuggets the chance to pull off an upset as equally stunning as the Knicks' early feats against the Celtics. Porter said his shoulder injury should be costing him 4-6 weeks. 

“I just think that it’s do-or-die for our team, so I don’t feel the pull to really try to rest it,” Porter said. “I think if I’m not able to perform out there, then they put someone else in there that’s able to perform better for the team, then that’s what we’ve gotta do. But I’m gonna definitely go out there and try. Because I might be able to make an impact. Some shots might go down. I’ve just gotta be very selective with how I play.”

Golden State (tied 1-2 vs. MIN): Steph Curry suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain in the Warriors' series-opening win that'll sideline him through at least Game 4 on Monday. Golden State managed only 93 points in a blowout loss in Game 2 without him, and since he's never dealt with a hamstring injury before, Curry said he won't rush his return. There's still some time before he even advances to stationary jump shooting. Meanwhile, Draymond Green, who now has five technical or flagrant fouls in the playoffs, two short of a one-game suspension, Security ejected a fan who directed a racial slur at Green during the loss. Green sounded off in a brief media session after the game. Only Jimmy Butler, Buddy Hield and Jonathan Kuminga, back again from his benching, scored double-figures as the Warriors lost 102-97 in Game 3 on Friday. 

"The agenda to try to keep making me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous," he said. 

Houston (lost 3-4 vs. GSW): Lost Game 7 last weekend despite slowing Steph Curry early while Buddy Hield unleashed 33 points in 37 minutes to keep the Warriors afloat. The Rockets' offense struggled immensely to score all series despite reaching a seventh game, where they scored only 89 points in a double-digit loss. Defensively, they limited Curry to 24.0 PPG and Golden State to 104.0 as a team on 43.3% shooting. Houston shot 44.6%, also scoring 104.0 PPG in a series that amounted to a 728-728 final score, but swung in the Warriors' direction on Jimmy Butler's game-winning free throws late in Game 4. Now, the Rockets will balance maintaining the young core that led them to the No. 2 seed in the loaded West with the clear need to upgrade offensively. 

Indiana (lead 2-1 vs. CLE): Tyrese Haliburton and Aaron Nesmith stole Game 2 from the Cavs in one of the great late-game comebacks you'll ever see. Nesmith scored 23 points, including a put-back dunk chasing down a free throw from the three-point line and a charge drawn on Donovan Mitchell that followed. The Pacers trailed by five points with 48 seconds left when the sequence began, continuing with a Pascal Siakam layup before Andrew Nembhard stole Max Strus' in-bounds pass, Haliburton reached the free throw line, grabbed his second miss, and pulled up from the three-point line to nail a game-winning shot. The win, similar to the Pacers' series-clinching victory against the Bucks, showed how dangerous Indiana remains -- now two wins from an East Finals return. 

Lakers: LeBron James suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in the Lakers' season-ending loss to the Wolves that would've cost him 3-5 weeks should their season have continued. James played through pain over the final seven minutes after colliding with Donte DiVincenzo. James said in a podcast appearance with Steve Nash this week that he hasn't discussed his NBA future with his family yet. 

Miami: Pat Riley said the Heat will not run their roster back next season while acknowledging that the Jimmy Butler saga impacted their season. Riley's public criticism of Butler and the Heat's unwillingness to extend the star led to his trade request and antics that led to multiple suspensions from the team. Miami traded Butler to the Warriors before the deadline in a larger deal that brought back Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, and a first-round pick. Riley said the saga is over and wished Butler well in his press conference, where he also said he doesn't expect to step down at 80. 

"I'm not going to apologize for saying no on a contract extension when we didn't have to," Riley said. "And I don't think I should." 

Minnesota (lead 2-1 vs. GSW): Anthony Edwards suffered a left ankle sprain in the second quarter of the Wolves' Game 2 win over the Warriors when Trayce Jackson-Davis fell on his leg. Edwards returned after halftime and scored 20 points in 34 minutes, but he's only shot 42.9% from the field through the first two games, keeping the Warriors alive through Steph Curry's injury. Julius Randle, Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels have all shot 50% from the field, keeping the Wolves afloat while their three-point shooting sank to 31.8% through Game 2. With Curry down and the Thunder trailing in their series, the Timberwolves suddenly have a path to the NBA Finals again that they squandered after defeating Denver to reach the West Finals one year ago. Edwards scored 36 points on Friday to take control of the series, 2-1, alongside Randle's triple-double. 

New York (lead 2-1 vs. BOS): Jalen Brunson scored three times in the final minutes to steal Game 2 after similar heroics in overtime of Game 1. Brunson hasn't shot efficiently overall, and the Knicks posted their least efficient offensive performance of the season on Wednesday. But they limited the Celtics' three-point shooting after they put up 60 attempts in Game 1. OG Anunoby has been the best player in the series, limiting Jayson Tatum to one shot attempt in over 30 possessions against each other in Game 2. The Knicks have employed a mix of hedges, zones, and collapses from the corner to shut down the Celtics' drive-and-kick game, borrowing from the Magic's success in round one. Josh Hart has been stellar, beating a Celtics defense that mostly ignored him. Mitchell Robinson, who fell to 3-for-11 in the series at the free-throw line, has proved impact enough for Joe Mazzulla to try to hack him off the floor in both games. Robinson missed 8-of-12 and became the major factor in the Knicks' Game 3 loss. 

Oklahoma City (down 1-2 vs. DEN): Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggled, scoring only 18 points in 45 minutes as the Thunder fell flat while the series turned to Denver on Friday. Jalen Williams carried the Thunder to overtime with 32 points, recovering from a slow start to the series. Mark Daigneault took the blame for a Game 1 loss where he fouled twice with a three-point late lead, allowing the Nuggets to foul Chet Holmgren, who missed two free throws that set up the Nuggets' win on a game-winning Aaron Gordon three after trailing by seven points late. It's not panic time for Oklahoma City yet, as they've played competitive enough defense to win all three games. But their shakiness in close-and-late situations raised questions about the inevitability of their title chase after a season where they dominated the league. For what it's worth, Denver managed a regular-season split with the Thunder too. 

Philadelphia: Perhaps the team with the biggest stakes in Monday's lottery. if the 76ers stay in the top six, positioned in the fifth lottery spot, they keep their first-round pick. If two teams behind them leap into the top three, the Thunder will take Philadelphia's pick from the Al Horford trade in 2020. The Sixers have a 10.5% chance to select No. 1 and 42.1% of a top-three pick themselves, but that leaves a 36% shot that they don't retain the selection. Daryl Morey said in a podcast appearance this week that he remains optimistic about Joel Embiid's health after his latest knee surgery, but siad he isn't sure the exact details of his return yet. 

"We have a wide range of outcomes," he said. "We're optimistic, but part of sports is to not know. We are maybe the most unknown team in the NBA."

San Antonio: Gregg Popovich made his first public appearance since his stroke and the announcement that he'll step down as Spurs head coach earlier this week. He flashed his trademark humor, surrounded by Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan, and gave his blessing to new coach Mitch Johnson before revealing his 'el jefe' shirt for his new role as president of basketball operations.