Celtics blow another 20-point lead, lose Game 2 to Knicks 91-90

Coming off a disappointing loss in Game 1 where the Celtics blew a 20-point lead in the second half, Boston decided to do the same thing in Game 2 as they lost 91-90 in regulation this time to go down 0-2 to the Knicks in Round 2 of the NBA Playoffs.

Jaylen Brown and Derrick White led the way for the Celtics with 20 points, but for the second game in a row, a fourth quarter collapse led to Boston’s downfall. The Knicks were led by 23 points from Josh Hart, 14 points from Mikal Bridges in the fourth quarter alone, and Jalen Brunson hitting game winning free throws.

The Celtics shot the ball awfully from three again, shooting 25% from three for the second game in a row. Turnovers killed them as well as they committed 16 of them as the last one was the most costly as Tatum threw the ball away to Bridges as time expired.

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The Celtics made a change in the starting lineup as Al Horford replaced Kristaps Porzingis after Porzingis left Game 1 with an illness. The Celtics began the game with a Jrue Holiday layup, but proceeded to miss their next seven shots in a row, including all four of their three-point attempts.

Holiday continued to be the main source of Boston’s offense however as he muscled Jalen Brunson out of the way for another layup and hitting a free throw after Brunson committed a clear path foul. After an Al Horford layup, the Celtics began the game on a 7-0 run before Karl-Anthony Towns made a layup for the Knicks first points of the game almost 6 minutes into the first quarter.

Boston did a great job of attacking the basket early which led to Derrick White hitting the Celtics first three of the night and increasing their scoring run to 16-4. Although Porzingis was ruled as available to play, Luke Kornet was the first center to come off of the bench alongside Payton Pritchard. Porzingis did check in with 2:41 left in the first quarter and didn’t look great but the Celtics were able to end the first quarter with a 24-13 lead.

Derrick White led the Celtics with 8 points in the first quarter and Jaylen Brown was right there with him with 6 points. Boston shot 10-25 (40%) from the field in the field in the quarter and 3-10 (30%) from three however, they missed a lot of wide-open layups at the basket which would drive any Celtics fan insane. The Celtics did play great defense in the first quarter as the held the Knicks to 6-23 (26%) shooting from the field and 1-8 (12.5) from three.

The Celtics started the second quarter with a double big lineup with Horford and Porzingis alongside Pritchard, Tatum, and White. After a scoreless first quarter, Jayson Tatum would score his first basket of the game with a dunk after cutting to the basket. New York started to chip away at the Celtics lead as Towns scored 8 straight points for the Knicks.

Boston was able to get Mitchell Robinson off of the floor as they started the Hack-A-Robinson technique and it led to an easy Luke Kornet layup. Once Jaylen Brown came back in the game, he started to attack the basket for a driving layup that forced Tom Thibodeau to call a timeout.

That didn’t slow down Jaylen Brown as he carried the Celtics offense. He was able to drive through people on his way to shots at the basket, made a three off of a steal and an offensive rebound by Holiday, and hit an and-1 over Josh Hart that had TD Garden going crazy.

This explosion by Jaylen Brown was immediately followed by Derrick White shooting three free throws after getting fouled and hitting a deep three in transition as a part of a 12-3 run that Boston their biggest lead of the night at 16 points.

The Knicks answered with a 6-0 run of their own until Jrue Holiday made an and-1 layup over Mikal Bridges. New York answered came back with 5 points from Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, but Boston still led 50-41 at halftime.

Jaylen Brown was the Celtics leading scorer at the half with 17 points on 7-16 shooting while Derrick White had 14 points on 4-9 shooting. White also made 3 of the Celtics 5 three pointers in the first half as Boston finished the half only 5-21 (24%) shooting from beyond the arc. Karl-Anthony Towns had 14 at the half but the Knicks continued to struggle shooting the ball as they finished the first half shooting 17-44 (39%) from the field and 3-13 (23%) from three.

The first half was defined by both teams number one options struggling. Jayson Tatum only had 2 points on 1-7 shooting but did have 9 rebounds while Jalen Brunson finished with 7 points on 3-10 shooting. Both teams also had trouble with turnovers as they both finished the first half with 7.

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Jayson Tatum began the second half by hitting his first three of the game and a dunk to begin the scoring for the Celtics. KAT matched that with two tough fadeaways over the outstretched arms of the Celtics defenders but a Jrue Holiday layup off of a Tatum steal forced the Knicks to call an early timeout.

Both teams came out of the timeout slow until Derrick White drew a charge on an OG Anunoby dunk attempt and hit a layup on the other end. That sparked a 13-3 for Boston topped off by a Kornet slam and another New York timeout.

Kristaps Porzingis checked in with about four minutes left in the third quarter and scored his first field goal of the series with a dunk and hit a three that put the Celtics up 20 points. However, New York rattled off a quick 8-0 run to end the quarter to chip into Boston’s lead but the Celtics still led 73-61 after three quarters.

Tatum had 7 points in the third quarter, but Brown led the Celtics with 20 points. The Celtics three-point shooting was still off, as they finished the third quarter shooting 8-29 from three. Josh Hart became the Knicks leading scorer as he had 21 points going into the fourth quarter.

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The fourth quarter began with Tatum shooting a grenade three at the end of the shot clock that Porzingis was able to rebound and put back for an and-1 slam. Mikal Bridges went on a 7-0 run for the Knicks but Payton Pritchard responded with two huge threes to keep the Celtics lead in double digits.

Bridges continued to off in the fourth quarter, as he scored 7 straight points for the Knicks again and cut the Celtics lead to 8 points. Derrick White hit two free throws to make it a 10-point lead with 5 minutes to go but Jalen Brunson answered with a three. As the Celtics bricked threes in response, the Knicks opened their run up to 13-2 and cut the lead to 4 points on a Josh Hart floater with 3:18 left in the game.

After fouling Mitchell Robinson three times, Hart missed a layup, but Karl-Anthony Towns answered with an and-1 put back layup to cut the lead to a single point. Tatum missed a fadeaway and Jalen Brunson hit a fadeaway over Jrue Holiday to give the Knicks their first lead of the night with 1:59 left in the game.

Brown missed a floater, Bridges missed a three, then Brown missed a floater that White couldn’t put back in for the Celtics 13th consecutive missed shot in the fourth quarter. Jalen Brunson answered with a layup, but Tatum hit two free throws to cut the Knicks lead to one point. Brunson tried to hit the dagger, but air balled a three and Anunoby stepped out of bounds to give the Celtics the ball with 24.2 seconds left with a chance to win that game.

Tatum with a full head of steam, sprinted up the court for a slam to give the Celtics the lead with 18.5 seconds to go. After the Knicks called a timeout, Brunson drove on Holiday and got fouled. He hit two free throws that gave the Knicks the lead with 12.7 seconds left.

The Celtics had a timeout remaining and didn’t use it. Tatum dribbled right into traffic and threw the ball away right to Mikal Bridges, Game Over.

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Game 3 will take place on Saturday, May 10th at 3:30 pm in Madison Square Garden.