When the Knicks took a commanding 3-1 series lead, they knew it wouldn’t be easy to get that clinching win, especially against the defending champion Boston Celtics.
But when perennial All-Star Jayson Tatum was lost for the rest of the postseason with an Achilles tear, many outside the Knicks locker room felt the series was in the bag, but Game 5 showed exactly why it’s going to be hard to get win No. 4 even with Tatum not in the lineup.
Six Celtics scored in double figures, and the NBA Finals MVP from last year, Jaylen Brown, had his best game of the series to lead Boston in their dominant 127-102 win on Wednesday night.
“They’re defending champions, so obviously losing Tatum is a big blow for their team but we know they’re more than capable of beating anyone on any night,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “We just didn’t do enough to win tonight.”
The Celtics won thanks to two factors. First, there is their balanced offense.
Derrick White led all scorers with 34 points while hitting seven threes. Brown posted a near triple-double of 26 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists while starters Jrue Holiday and Al Horford scored in double figures. They also got big points from Payton Pritchard (17) and Luke Kornet (10) off the bench.
They shot 52 percent (45 percent from three) while winning the fastbreak and points-off-turnover battles. Those numbers trickled up at the end of the second quarter, but jumped in a “terrible” third quarter that saw defensive lapses left and right from the Knicks.
“They’re the defending champs. Jayson Tatum went down, you thought they were just going to lay down? Nah,” Josh Hart said. “You knew they were going to come out swinging. They came out with extreme confidence like they do every game. They came out with aggression. We didn’t do enough in the first half to end the half right and the third quarter was a failure.”
And then there was the defense.
Boston forced the Knicks into 10 turnovers and 36 percent shooting for the game. But while a lot of the attention goes to the prolific three-point shooting up and down the Celtics’ bench, New York recognizes how Boston’s defense feeds into their offense, and they played into their hands on Wednesday night.
“They have a lot of shooting on the floor, that’s going to remain the same,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “The thing about their team is they are a great defensive team as well. We can’t be slow getting back and you can’t give open shots to them. We have to be closer with our closeouts and be better with our communication.”
Jalen Brunson was asked after Game 3’s rout if the fact that they were up 2-0 going into that game last Saturday affected the team’s mentality and energy. The All-Star guard was candid and said he believed it subconsciously did. He was asked a similar question after Game 5’s loss and if the team’s energy was affected by the fact Tatum wasn’t playing.
Brunson said no and put the onus on his team to find a way to beat the Celtics no matter what.
“Yes, they’re missing a big piece but they’re a team, a well-oiled machine, that has been in situations where they’ve played without him and they’ve played well,” Brunson said. “We need to understand that. Trust the gameplan and play accordingly. It’s that simple.”
After Wednesday’s win, the Celtics are 10-2 without Tatum this season. Two of those wins have come in the postseason, so this group can win without their superstar and the basketball world is on notice.
“It’s easy to kind of write things off. Obviously unfortunate what happened to JT, but we’ve still got basketball to be played,” Brown said after the game. “I believe in this group. Don’t count us out just yet.”
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