Despite holding a 20-point lead midway through the third quarter, the Boston Celtics collapsed down the stretch and saw a Game 1 victory slip through their hands in a 108-105 overtime loss Monday night in TD Garden.
The Celtics missed an NBA playoff record 45 threes, and scored just 16 points in the fourth to drop their first game to New York this season.
While it appeared that most of the Celtics roster experienced some rust after six days off, Jayson Tatum clearly did not.
After Derrick White opened the scoring with a corner three, the opening frame belonged to Tatum, who is coming off of three straight 35-point performances. The forward was assertive early, getting to the charity stripe early for a pair before trading triples with Deuce McBride.
Tatum was really the only source of offense for Boston as he scored eight-straight points, capped off by receiving a touchdown outlet pass from Jalyen Brown for an easy dunk. He kept the offense going by burying a 28-foot stepback triple over Mitchell Robinson.
The Knicks were doing their best to try and keep pace with the Boston superstar as McBride and OG Anunoby hit three-straight threes to take a 20-19 lead.
With just under three minutes remaining in the first, the rest of the Celtics were still having trouble getting going as everyone besides Tatum was shooting a combined 2-14 from the field. That changed once Prtichard stepped into a three to take a four-point lead.
But by the end of the quarter, the Cs only found themselves up one and in a bit of a rock fight with New York. As the second quarter began, the momentum started to shift even further to Boston’s side.
Karl Anthony-Towns did get it going a little bit to kickstart the second with a pair of jumpers, but he quickly picked up his third foul and derailed much of the Knicks offensive attack.
With Towns now off the floor, Boston began to gain a strong control of the game. With Robinson in as a replacement, the pace slowed significantly as anytime New York got going the Celtics sent the big man to the line. Robinson shot a poor 2-8 from the charity stripe.
Jalen Brunson also struggled in the first half, committing just as many fouls as shots he made. Brunson’s only triple came after a hustle play by Josh Hart, who secured two-straight offensive rebounds to eventually find the guard wide open for three.
New York head coach Tom Thibodeau opted to keep Towns on the bench with three fouls, and while it may have been the right decision, it cost the Knicks. Boston closed out the quarter on a 31-14 run, much to the thanks of Payton Pritchard and Brown, who scored 13 points in the second. Pritchard outscored the entire New York bench with 13 points in the first half, knocking down two triples and was a perfect 5-5 from the line. Brown played the role of closer as he scored on each of Boston’s final three possessions, giving his squad a 61-45 cushion heading into the halftime break.
Needing to cut into the lead and get back into Game 1, the third quarter went about as poorly as it possibly could have for New York, and a lot of it has to do with Towns.
Returning to the court after getting into some early foul trouble, Towns was immediately proven to be ineffective against the Boston defense. The big man was 0-4 with two turnovers and picked up his fourth foul as the Celtics built an 18-point lead.
The Knicks weren’t tapping out yet though, but Boston probably just had as much to do with it. After taking a 75-55 lead, Boston went 0-4 from beyond the arc and New York went on a 9-0 run off of two Anunoby triples. Tatum helped to stop the run with two deep threes — his first points since the first quarter — but New York kept fighting.
The momentum was clearly back on New York’s side as Deuce McBride opened the quarter with a big corner three to once again cut the lead to six. Everyone on Boston — not named Tatum — had once again gone cold, starting the quarter 0-4 as Towns cut the lead to four with an easy putback attempt.
Anunoby continued his big night from deep, knocking down his fifth triple to cut the lead to one. A few plays later he would force a turnover and slam it home on the other end to tie the game for the first time since the first half.
Now facing a playoff collapse in Game 1, the Celtics back were against the wall, and just like they have for a long time, their role players stepped up. Horford stood tall on defense to reject Towns at the rim, and Boston immediately went the other way to find Holiday for a three.
The comeback didn’t stall out though, Brunson made sure of it. The dynamic guard’s late game heroics carried into the TD Garden as he nailed two straight triples right in Horford’s grill. Suddenly, after seeming dead in the water down 20, the Knicks found themselves up 97-93.
But the defending champs showed some of that championship grit.
Boston answered with an emphatic 7-0 run, capped off with a three by White as the Garden exploded. Despite missing 40 threes, the Celtics were up once again. The lead didn’t last long though as Brunson this time dished it to OG in the corner and he hit his sixth three to take a 100-98 lead.
The Celtics continued to make winning plays down the stretch to stay alive as Brown found Holiday in the low block for an easy layup, and White pulled down a big time board on the other end with just under 30 seconds remaining to set up a potential game-winner. Tatum couldn’t deliver, despite being defended by Robinson, as he was forced into a tough stepback three that didn’t fall.
On the other end, Brunson received a quick pass and had an open lane to the rim, floating up a shot that nearly delivered an iconic moment in Knick history — but it rattled in and out of the rim. With ust 0.6 seconds remaining, the Celtics were left with a tough Tatum fadeaway shot that never had a chance.
To overtime we go.
And in the extra frame, New York was in complete control in enemy territory. Anunoby continued his strong game with a physical and-one dunk and Bridges, who played nearly 50 minutes, knocked down a corner three to take a 106-100 lead.
Tatum and Brown managed to find some offense, with Brown hitting a massive three to cut the lead to 108-105, but that’s where the final score stayed as Bridges ripped the ball out of Brown’s hands on the game’s last possession to seal the comeback victory.
Boston will look to even the series Wednesday night against New York in TD Garden. Tipoff set for 7:00 p.m.
