Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, were you happy with your team’s shot selection in Game 1?
“For the most part,” he answered.
That explains a lot of this game. Boston followed Mazzulla’s blueprint and launched 60 3-pointers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semi-Final matchup with New York, missing 45 (an NBA playoff record) and hitting just 15, or 25%. Boston shooters missed a lot of open ones, but they also took a lot of difficult, contested ones, as well as tough shots in the paint.
“Some of them felt good, some of them felt like we maybe forced the issue,” Jaylen Brown said. “Definitely our rhythm and our timing was a little bit off. We got a lot of great looks, but there may be some truth to that. We’ve got to look at the film and see what happened in that second half.”
The Celtics had success early with matchup hunting — Jayson Tatum going after Karl-Anthony Towns, getting the big man in foul trouble — and led by as many as 20 in the third quarter. Then Boston’s shooting dried up.
The Knicks were the definition of resilient — they could have rolled over down 20 but didn’t. With a 20-6 run in the second half of the third quarter, New York stormed back to make it a game. Jalen Brunson was doing his own matchup hunting, going at Al Horford, and it worked.
The game went to overtime, and Mikal Bridges’ defense sealed it more than anything.
The result was a 108-105 New York win that has the Knicks up 1-0 on the road and left Celtics faithful stunned and confused.
Boston, as it had at points during the regular season, stuck with what wasn’t working and didn’t shift enough to getting buckets in the paint, or even good looks from the midrange (the Celtics were 6-of-15 on shots from four feet out to the arc). The result was opening the door for New York, but Boston saw this more as just missed shots.
“Probably some times where we settled,” said Jayson Tatum, who finished with 29 points but was 0-of-7 shooting in the fourth quarter. “I could’ve put more pressure on the rim. But a lot of times, we felt like we got really, really good looks and just couldn’t convert.”
Meanwhile, Jalen Brunson just kept making plays on his way to 29 points, and OG Anunoby matched him bucket for bucket.
While the Celtics were missing, the Knicks hit 17 3-pointers, shooting 45.9% from beyond the arc.
In last year’s playoffs, an injury or just an off night for Boston didn’t automatically mean a loss, as it cruised to the title. That is not going to be the case this season. If the Celtics want to repeat, they must play closer to their peak. They did not on Monday night and now find themselves in a hole against a resiliant Knicks team that is playing with great confidence and believes it can win this series.
