How can Celtics regain footing vs. Knicks? Four keys to a bounce-back – NBC Sports Boston

Joe Mazzulla embraces when things get uncomfortable. Now it’s time for his team to do the same. 

The Celtics trail the New York Knicks 2-0 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series as the venue shifts to Madison Square Garden this weekend. The Celtics have to find a way to dig themselves out of the improbably large hole they’re in after blowing a pair of 20-point leads at home. 

Here are four ways the Celtics can get back on level footing in New York: 

1. Make open shots

We typically roll our eyes when people want to distill the game down to shot-making. The “It’s a make or miss league!” analysis tends to ignore a bunch of important variables. But Boston is an 0-2 hole in this series because literally the entire team has forgotten how to make open shots. 

Forget the 3s. The Celtics have missed 25 of 45 layup attempts in this series. LAYUPS! Boston’s shooting percentages are down double-digits in almost every spot on the floor, and for every type of shot.

Boston is shooting 24.2 percent (26 for 107) on all open shots (4+ feet of space from nearest defender) through two games. During the regular season, Boston made 42.4 percent of those same shots (1,485 of 4,355), per NBA tracking. Even if we just make all those open misses 2-point shots, that’s nearly 40 points of total offense the team has sacrificed while missing open looks. 

Is it wildly oversimplifying things to say that if the Celtics made just one or two more shots per game, they’d be up 2-0 in this series? When you’ve had two 20-point, second-half leads and lost by a total of four points, it doesn’t feel that way.

There’s much more to it, especially Boston’s plodding pace and plummeting shot quality in the fourth quarter when games get tight. But it’s still improbable that the NBA’s second-best offense (119.5 points per 100 possessions) has plummeted to 99.5 points per 100 possessions over the past two games.

The Knicks deserve plenty of credit — more on that later — but Boston’s shooting woes are almost unfathomable. We’re left recalling how Brad Stevens fretted over his team going into a “two-week slump” when Boston lost in seven games to the Miami Heat in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals.

And this slump might actually be even worse.

2. Better fourth-quarter possessions

The Celtics have generated a total of 33 points on 9-of-45 shooting (4 for 26 beyond the 3-point arc) in the two fourth quarters of this series while being outscored by a total of 22 points. It gets worse when you look at the shot location data.

Boston is 5-of-9 from inside five feet but is an impossible 4-of-36 on anything deeper in the fourth quarter. The Celtics are 0-for-9 on pull-up jumpers. They are 0-for-4 on stepback jumpers. They are 0-for-4 on turnarounds.

Again, the Knicks have done an excellent job making the paint seem crowded and deterring the Celtics from attacking. But often it feels like Boston is trying to kneel out the clock when it first builds a 20-point lead, then doesn’t know how to kick it back to high gear when things get tight.

In Game 1, the Celtics were walking the ball up the court while down six in overtime. In Game 2, they settled way too often for perimeter looks in crunch time. 

Boston’s offensive woes have bled into the defensive end. The Knicks have an effective field goal percentage of 55.7 percent in the fourth quarter of these last two games, scorching Boston with timely 3s. The Celtics haven’t routinely finished possessions by securing rebounds, allowing painful second-chance opportunities at inopportune times. 

It’s one thing to blow a lead. That happens all the time in the NBA as these playoffs have emphasized. But the Celtics have to catch themselves quicker. That’s on both Mazzulla and his players. They have to know when they have to work harder for higher-efficiency looks.

The Knicks only get stronger in clutch time, and the Celtics, after doing that throughout last year’s playoff run, have struggled to match New York’s late-game energy. 

3. Earning their wings

While many of Boston’s woes are self-inflicted, the Knicks — and the wings they brought in over the past 18 months in particular — deserve a whole bunch of credit for the defensive disruptions they’ve caused. 

The Celtics are shooting a measly 20.6 percent (7 of 34) when OG Anunoby is the primary defender in this series, per NBA tracking. That’s a staggering 25.1 percent lower than expected output.

Anunoby defended half of Jayson Tatum’s offensive possessions in Game 1 and allowed just 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting with 2 turnovers. In Game 2, Anunoby guarded 53.2 percent of Tatum’s offensive possessions and didn’t allow a single point on only one shot attempt. Tatum has generated just three points in 83.8 possessions against Anunoby on 1-of-7 shooting, per the NBA’s tracking.

He’s not the only one struggling with Anunoby. Derrick White is 0-for-6 shooting with a turnover against him. Jrue Holiday is 0-for-3 with a turnover. Jaylen Brown has scored 5 points on 2-of-7 shooting with a turnover against Anunoby.

The Celtics have had slightly more success against Bridges (10-for-26 shooting, 38.5 percent, 8.5 percent below expected) but he’s absolutely smothered Boston’s last-gasp attempts in both Games 1 and 2.

The Celtics are making it a point to hunt matchups with lesser defenders in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, but the length of Anunoby and Bridges has really deterred them from attacking more. 

4. Embrace the challenge

The road brought out the best in the Celtics this season. They set a franchise record while going 33-8 (.805) away from their own Garden. MSG is going to be electric, even with a weird Saturday matinee looming. Tatum has routinely embraced playing on the Broadway stage and must do the same this weekend.

Two quiet games have national pundits questioning Tatum’s place in the NBA hierarchy, just one week after everyone pondered if he was the best player in the playoffs based on how he shredded the Magic for three straight 35+ point games.

This is just the way it goes. Two losses are enough for some to start wondering if Boston’s title last year was a fluke.

That’s the reality these days. We all need something to scream about on TV. The Celtics can change those narratives in a hurry by simply getting back to what made them so successful the past two seasons.

There are those who still gripe that Boston’s path was too easy last season, even if the Celtics simply made it look easy. Regardless, Boston has encountered more adversity here than it did during all of last year’s run and must work to reverse the narratives yet again.

Kristaps Porzingis’ health woes haven’t helped matters. Brown is still grinding through his own knee issues. But the Celtics simply have to play better and smarter. 

Boston managed to avoid putting itself in a compromised spot during last year’s run. Every adventure is different. The Celtics have to show they can win differently than they did last year. They have to embrace the journey.