A 20 -point deficit, an unbalanced score race and a Mikal Bridges flies to freeze victory. Again.
This is how match 2 fell between the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics on Wednesday at TD Garden. It is also close to exactly how the match 1 took place, and it resulted in a shocking advance in the 2-0 series for New York.
The Knicks, seeking to overcome their second consecutive 20 -point deficit, were down 12 years in the final framework. They reduced the seven -point deficit with about five minutes to play, and four points near the three -minute brand. A city of Karl-Anthony and 1 with 2 1/2 minutes brought New York into one. And the clutch player of the NBA year, Jalen Brunson, gave the Knicks his first advance of the night with less than two minutes to play.
Bridges, which did not score any points in the first three quarters, finished with 14 points. Josh Hart punctuated the Knicks with 23, the cities had 21 and Brunson 17.
The Celtics have set up another evening of unusual shooting, going 34 for 94 (36.2%) on the goals in the field and 10 for 40 (25%) out of 3S.
Derrick White and Jaylen Brown each collected 20 points for the Celtics, and Jayson Tatum finished with 13 after scoring only two points in the first half.
Match 3 is on Saturday in New York.
Already seen
This is already seen as basketball. Boston was up 20 against the Knicks in match 2 on their floor at home, as in match 1. The same result: New York wins.
Heart Knicks continue to find ways to win. The defense did it just enough and Boston is missing more than 3 than there are fans between the two combined historical franchises led them to explode large consecutive tracks.
Now New York is home with a 2-0 series advance against the reigning champions, who continue to appear in the most pressed moments of the game because their 3-ball does not fall. James Edwards III, Knicks Beat writer
Tatum needs to find its base
Tatum collected an average of 33.5 points per game against the Knicks during the regular season. Much of the discussion entering this series concentrated the way they had no answers for him. During two games, the domination of the regular season of the Star of the Celtics has given way to problems with the playoffs.
Match 2 turned into a disaster for him. He finished the match with only 13 points out of 5 shots out of 20, missing four of the five attempts of 3 points, five of the nine attempts inside the painting and his five other attempts of two points. With less than four minutes to do, he missed a 3 -point corner that would have put the Celtics of the front of nine points. Two minutes later, he broke a bland of Fadeway with the Celtics advance to one. He briefly flirted with his first score game in a figure series since 2021 before finally reaching two figures on a pair of free throws inside the last minute.
After giving an advance to the Celtics with 18.5 seconds to play by going full -fledged for a pencil slam, he finalized the collapse of his team by engaging in turnover on the final possession of his team after two Francs of Brunson launches put the Knicks forward.
Boston needs more tatum. Much more. – Jay King, Beat Celtics writer
This is why the Knicks have acquired bridges
This is why the Knicks exchanged four unprotected first round choices. And another protégé. And a first round exchange. It was not because they thought that Bridges was a future MVP, worth a tie with other offers for the superstars of the past. It was because he was the room to put them above. It was because of the defense that he has not always shown during the regular season, the shooting he did not even presented before the last quarter of the match 2.
But that’s why they wanted it. Bridges collected 14 points in fourth after failing to score during the first three quarters.
For a second consecutive match, he snatched the biggest defensive game of the Knicks season, this time erasing a Tatum shot that could have won him for Boston.
Bridges compensates for a season from top to bottom in the strongest way. – Fred Katz, senior writer of the NBA
Celtics cannot count on the shooting of 3 points to shoot the series
Do you remember the Celtics? The team that won a title by burying the world under an avalanche of 3. The team that has always had an offensive response for each scenario, with starry programming full of markers at each phase of the game.
Well, this team does not respond to the bell for the moment. The Celtics look like the type of reigning champion who reminds you why we rarely say: “repeat field”. They seem tired, simple and simple.
They can solve this problem easily. They lost the two games on the Walk-off defensive games of Bridges. Although they collapse, the gap is tiny and the whole identity of the Celtics is to open these shortcomings. But they are not alike at the moment and transforming things means that something should change. – Jared Weiss, Beat Celtics writer
(Photo: Brian Babineau / NBAE via Getty Images)
