New York – The NBA world expected the Knicks to become dead before the start of this series of the second round against the Celtics. Instead, the Knicks entered match 3 Saturday evening at Madison Square Garden with a superb 2-0 series behind historically bad shots and end of game collapses by Boston.
With two days of leave to regroup, the Celtics knew what was at stake while they were trying to dig an intimidating hole of 2-0 from their home. The sense of urgency was increased from the opening tip of the Big Apple while Boston came out in transition early and hit the strong offensive glass.
The Celtics also made shots, which helped a little in a victory of 115-93. They went from a 12 out of 19, to a fork of 3 points in the first half, at 71 points. However, the process of obtaining these fantastic interior and outside looks (54% of shooting overall) was transparent early during match 3 and it was due to a wise choice on the offensive process of the Joe Mazzulla team.
The simple reason why the Knicks should not have a chance against the Celtics of this series is the defense of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. New York needs these two guys to have an offensive chance against Boston’s fire power, but both are serious defensive responsibilities against Boston’s talent.
The Celtics were sometimes good in this series, targeting the two guys. They had cities in addition to problems at the start of match 1. They continued Jalen Brunson with Jrue Holiday a pile in match 2 at the start. Over these games, the goal has decreased a little. The Celtics have settled a lot when faced with isolated situations, or sometimes have simply forgotten them entirely (see: Final game of match 2).
This equation changed in the first half of the match 3. Mazzulla does a better hunting job tirelessly than most NBA coaches, and he did a great job for this group to do it early in match 3. It was something Jayson Tatum recognized by speaking of victory.
“I think one thing, we just tried to be more intentional about our spacing,” said Tatum. “Put guys in the right place. We are still talking about respecting the space and being intentional to the action in which we want to be and who we try to attack, whatever the case. I think our spacing has been a large part.”
Among the 24 goals of Boston in the first half, 14 of them came in possessions which directly involved the targeting of Brunson and the cities. Some of the attacks involved obvious choices such as Tatum remaining determined to take wide openings against the drops of cities in a pick-and-roll.
Jayson Tatum 3Nba
Boston has also become aggressive against the two players out of the ball, using their mistakes to create looks wide open everywhere on the ground.
Boston especially went to Brunson much more in the position in match 3. The Knicks easily sent an additional teammate to help Brunson in these places, leading to 3 schooling in rhythm on the perimeter.
In this sequence, Brown immediately looked for a boost with Boston offering a better spacing around him. Porzingis obtains the initial pass here, forcing Josh Hart to get involved with him before sending him to Pritchard for a large open look. These sequences have not occurred as regularly or gently in the first two games, but an increased accent on them made them appear early and often in match 3.
Jalen Brunson Double Team on Jaylen Brown leads to open pritchard 3NBA.com
Boston also made the additional pass in these situations, refusing good shots for the big ones in training sequences and kicks involving the weakest links of the Knicks. Tatum draws a crowd here, sends it to Horford who draws two before sending it to a large open pritchard.
Tatum Kickout leads to an additional passNBA.com
“We just have to continue to do these good readings, appreciate basketball, and we did not have 11 live ball reversals,” said Mazzulla after the victory. “It helps a lot when you keep it between the lines, and we have done a good job of our spacing, making the right one.”
This type of offense combined with a formidable offensive rebound early (14 seconds of luck on nine offensive rebounds) transformed the game rout before the intermission.
The good news for the Celtics of this series now is that the Knicks really have no solution when Boston plays with this type of discipline. Apart from two minutes in the second quarter, one of the Brunson or cities was on the ground at any time for the Knicks. They just don’t have enough creators or size to play Boston without either.
Knicks can try to withdraw more 3 points looks than the duo has given on the perimeter with more switching, but that leaves them exposed elsewhere.
In the end, the Celtics can win this series of different ways, but tirelessly attacking Brunson and Towns is the least resistance path for this group. Staying disciplined on this front in match 3 greatly contributed to an eruption victory (with an impressive Payton Pritchard shot in the second half). The work is far from over, but the rise from 0 to 2 looks a little less intimidating after Saturday evening.
