Semifinals Matchup Set: Knicks vs Celtics

[Context]

I got the Pistons series right with Knicks in 6. Here I'm feeling Celtics in 5. Hope to be wrong. Almost half the voters think the Knicks will win no more than one game. It feels it's on Thibs to pull out 2 wins at least or he fails the big test. But will Leon grade on a curve?
'

I wouldnt be surprised if we got swept. If Im the Cetics I would make Brunson's time on the court a living hell and let everyone else beat us.
What is there to figure out about our approach?

[Guano]

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Tf is wrong with you?!

On a serious note, I think we need to blitz Tatum and let the rest of the Celtics team beat us. We tried guarding him 1 v 1 and he basically put up Jordan numbers against us.

OG is gonna drag your boy to hell and if og is too busy cam Payne will do what needs to be done

Spoiler:

[Guano]

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Are you rooting for the Knicks?

Highly questionable.

In here posting Tatum highlights. Disgusting behavior.

[3toheadmelo]

Tf is wrong with you?!

On a serious note, I think we need to blitz Tatum and let the rest of the Celtics team beat us. We tried guarding him 1 v 1 and he basically put up Jordan numbers against us.

OG is gonna drag your boy to hell and if og is too busy cam Payne will do what needs to be done

Spoiler:

OG actually did an excellent job on Tatum this year. The problem is that whenever OG was guarding Tatum, Boston forced them to switch Mikal or KAT on to Tatum. So I think instead of trying to guard him 1 v 1, your best bet is just blitzing him and force the other Celtics to beat us. It might not work either cause that’s what Dallas did and it led to them getting wide open 3s all series long but it’s better than letting Tatum look like Jordan.

[Guano]

On a serious note, I think we need to blitz Tatum and let the rest of the Celtics team beat us. We tried guarding him 1 v 1 and he basically put up Jordan numbers against us.

OG is gonna drag your boy to hell and if og is too busy cam Payne will do what needs to be done

Spoiler:

OG actually did an excellent job on Tatum this year. The problem is that whenever OG was guarding Tatum, Boston forced them to switch Mikal or KAT on to Tatum. So I think instead of trying to guard him 1 v 1, your best bet is just blitzing him and force the other Celtics to beat us. It might not work either cause that’s what Dallas did and it led to them getting wide open 3s all series long but it’s better than letting Tatum look like Jordan.

I cant speak on mikal but most the time they had kat in drop against Tatum and he was BBQ. I dont know if blitzing doubles is the right thing either cause then they're gonna have open 3s. Might be better to let Tatum go nuclear and stay home on their shooters.

Tbh, im more worried about our offense than our defense. We cant have long stretches of putrid offense against this team and expect to win. Its fine against am inept team like Detroit. But against the Cs we'll get buried.

[3toheadmelo]

OG is gonna drag your boy to hell and if og is too busy cam Payne will do what needs to be done

Spoiler:

OG actually did an excellent job on Tatum this year. The problem is that whenever OG was guarding Tatum, Boston forced them to switch Mikal or KAT on to Tatum. So I think instead of trying to guard him 1 v 1, your best bet is just blitzing him and force the other Celtics to beat us. It might not work either cause that’s what Dallas did and it led to them getting wide open 3s all series long but it’s better than letting Tatum look like Jordan.

I cant speak on mikal but most the time they had kat in drop against Tatum and he was BBQ. I dont know if blitzing doubles is the right thing either cause then they're gonna have open 3s. Might be better to let Tatum go nuclear and stay home on their shooters.

Tbh, im more worried about our offense than our defense. We cant have long stretches of putrid offense against this team and expect to win. Its fine against am inept team like Detroit. But against the Cs we'll get buried.

Mikal was probably worse than KAT when it came to guarding Tatum. Look at these numbers..

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Idk all I know is that we had no answer for Tatum 1 v 1 and that was why they swept us with ease. Doesn’t make sense to keep doing that imo.

Offensively it’s gonna come down to if KAT, Mikal and OG can step it up against Boston. All 3 of them disappeared against Boston for most of our games against them and it was just Brunson out there. I think OG actually had the biggest drop off in points against Boston than any other opponent too.

Basically we’re kinda fked on both ends against this team

[Guano]

OG actually did an excellent job on Tatum this year. The problem is that whenever OG was guarding Tatum, Boston forced them to switch Mikal or KAT on to Tatum. So I think instead of trying to guard him 1 v 1, your best bet is just blitzing him and force the other Celtics to beat us. It might not work either cause that’s what Dallas did and it led to them getting wide open 3s all series long but it’s better than letting Tatum look like Jordan.

I cant speak on mikal but most the time they had kat in drop against Tatum and he was BBQ. I dont know if blitzing doubles is the right thing either cause then they're gonna have open 3s. Might be better to let Tatum go nuclear and stay home on their shooters.

Tbh, im more worried about our offense than our defense. We cant have long stretches of putrid offense against this team and expect to win. Its fine against am inept team like Detroit. But against the Cs we'll get buried.

Mikal was probably worse than KAT when it came to guarding Tatum. Look at these numbers..

Read on Twitter

Idk all I know is that we had no answer for Tatum 1 v 1 and that was why they swept us with ease. Doesn’t make sense to keep doing that imo.

Offensively it’s gonna come down to if KAT, Mikal and OG can step it up against Boston. All 3 of them disappeared against Boston for most of our games against them and it was just Brunson out there. I think OG actually had the biggest drop off in points against Boston than any other opponent too.

Basically we’re kinda fked on both ends against this team

Yeah, we need 2 of those 3 to have 4 exceptional games for us to pull this sht off. Should be fairly easy.

[K_ick_God]

Just don't play scared my God

And Brunson you can't win this series by taking 40 4th quarter shots and hitting the last one

Next, out of the never gonna happen playbook, other than Tatum and Brown, the Celtics are not the best ballhandlers in speed ... and not all that athletic ... so if we pressed and played uptempo, which has zero chance of something we'd try or Thibs can do, we could probably stay closer

Finally, related to the last point, the Knicks should share the ball but stop looking around for something to develop. Boston is excellent defensively, so try to take the best shot in the first 12 seconds and stop dribbling and looking around for something that is not there

[JBreezeNY]

Logically, Celts in 5.

Hopefully, Knicks in 7.

Anything is possible. The one thing that I cling on to is two years ago when Butler and a bunch of Tito’s forced the C’s to game 7.

We’ll see how game 1 looks.

[KnicksGadfly]

Just don't play scared my God

It felt like we had some guys who were scared the last game...KAT was one. McBride was maybe the biggest culprit...if he can't handle it, bench him for Payne.

[K_ick_God]

Just don't play scared my God

It felt like we had some guys who were scared the last game...KAT was one. McBride was maybe the biggest culprit...if he can't handle it, bench him for Payne.

OG played intimidated against Boston at home to end the season, which really makes no sense.

Everyone should be ignoring the refs and playing real defense, and letting shots fly.

[WaltFrazier]

Time for Deuce to put up or shut up. If he doesn’t produce early, then I’d like to see Delon Wright get some burn. Same goes for Cam Payne.

Also, we need more Mitch in the 4th quarter. Josh, Mikal, or KAT will have to take turns sitting to get Mitch more minutes.

Finally, Landry Shamet is MIA.

I feel like Detroit was the team to play Delon against. Big solid defensive guard. He wouldn't hurt against Boston but wouldn't provide the needed offense either

[WaltFrazier]

Just don't play scared my God

And Brunson you can't win this series by taking 40 4th quarter shots and hitting the last one

Next, out of the never gonna happen playbook, other than Tatum and Brown, the Celtics are not the best ballhandlers in speed ... and not all that athletic ... so if we pressed and played uptempo, which has zero chance of something we'd try or Thibs can do, we could probably stay closer

Finally, related to the last point, the Knicks should share the ball but stop looking around for something to develop. Boston is excellent defensively, so try to take the best shot in the first 12 seconds and stop dribbling and looking around for something that is not there

Last paragraph sounds good until the first pass to wide open Hart, he fakes shot then Jalen loops back around for a dribble hand off.

The only way to change the pattern is for Josh to shoot when he catches wide open, and we know he either won't take them or won't make them

[Clyde_Style]

Just don't play scared my God

And Brunson you can't win this series by taking 40 4th quarter shots and hitting the last one

Next, out of the never gonna happen playbook, other than Tatum and Brown, the Celtics are not the best ballhandlers in speed ... and not all that athletic ... so if we pressed and played uptempo, which has zero chance of something we'd try or Thibs can do, we could probably stay closer

Finally, related to the last point, the Knicks should share the ball but stop looking around for something to develop. Boston is excellent defensively, so try to take the best shot in the first 12 seconds and stop dribbling and looking around for something that is not there

Last paragraph sounds good until the first pass to wide open Hart, he fakes shot then Jalen loops back around for a dribble hand off.

The only way to change the pattern is for Josh to shoot when he catches wide open, and we know he either won't take them or won't make them

What's frustrating about Hart is when his head is screwed on right and he just takes shots when he's open his percentages go up. We've seen him have periods of non-hesitant shooting when he was competent enough to keep the defense honest.

But Josh gets into his own head and starts playing it cute and passing up the shots. Just shoot the damn ball.

[Worst_to_First]

Just don't play scared my God

It felt like we had some guys who were scared the last game...KAT was one. McBride was maybe the biggest culprit...if he can't handle it, bench him for Payne.

KAT didn’t play scared in Game 7 versus Denver last year and saved us at the clutch in Game 4 versus Detroit. It was strange seeing him like that in Game 6. He looked very tentative after Thibs scolded him for firing an open three pointer during the earlier parts of the game.

[HarthorneWingo]

Time for Deuce to put up or shut up. If he doesn’t produce early, then I’d like to see Delon Wright get some burn. Same goes for Cam Payne.

Also, we need more Mitch in the 4th quarter. Josh, Mikal, or KAT will have to take turns sitting to get Mitch more minutes.

Finally, Landry Shamet is MIA.

I feel like Detroit was the team to play Delon against. Big solid defensive guard. He wouldn't hurt against Boston but wouldn't provide the needed offense either

Well Deuce isn’t getting the job done. I’d give Deuce one or two more games. If he doesn’t start knocking down shots, we have to make a move whether it’s Delon or Shamet. Let’s not forget that Cam hasn’t been a factor either.

[HarthorneWingo]

Just don't play scared my God

And Brunson you can't win this series by taking 40 4th quarter shots and hitting the last one

Next, out of the never gonna happen playbook, other than Tatum and Brown, the Celtics are not the best ballhandlers in speed ... and not all that athletic ... so if we pressed and played uptempo, which has zero chance of something we'd try or Thibs can do, we could probably stay closer

Finally, related to the last point, the Knicks should share the ball but stop looking around for something to develop. Boston is excellent defensively, so try to take the best shot in the first 12 seconds and stop dribbling and looking around for something that is not there

Last paragraph sounds good until the first pass to wide open Hart, he fakes shot then Jalen loops back around for a dribble hand off.

The only way to change the pattern is for Josh to shoot when he catches wide open, and we know he either won't take them or won't make them

If Josh is open from 3 early in the possession, I don’t mind a heat check or two but I’d prefer he not and wait for a better shot. But if we’re under 8 seconds, then he has to shoot it.

EDIT: Hart has to shoot when the Celtics leave him wide open.

[Besart19]

Our best lineup vs the Cs

Mitch / Achiuwa / Hukporti
Towns / Hart / Tucker
Anunoby / Mikal / Dadiet
McBride / Wright / Shamet
Brunson / Payne / Kolek

[Montmorencie]

We should guard Tatum, Brown or whomever catches fire directly, no blitzing, trapping, double or triple teaming. When you design and construct a team specifically to beat this Boston Celtics I go on and play 1 on 1 all the damn time. That's what we got Mikal and OG for. KAT is there to match with Porzingis.

If I see double teaming Tatum or Brown that leads to Pritchard, White and Holiday destroying us with wide open threes, which they will surely do, I take this as a white flag and everything we built the last 3 years was failure in terms of roster construction.

[Chanel Bomber]

I think the series will be a perfect barometer for Thibs's coaching and future at the head of the team.

We won't survive Boston's 3-point onslaught and Mazzula's aggressive tactics if our coach doesn't make tough decisions and doesn't adjust in a timely manner.

The outcome of the series matters even less than the way they perform. We won't compete without sound tactical adjustments.

Thibs can't eff around in this series. He's got an apex predator coaching on the opposite bench.