Semifinals Matchup Set: Knicks vs Celtics

[K_ick_God]

We are big underdogs so that makes it less a series to dread, I guess

[8516knicks]

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?
'

[3toheadmelo]

Read on Twitter

?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

[K_ick_God]

That’s not what he said.

He said we have the talent to go to war. I would presume that is equal talent. Our starting five isn't even equal to theirs. Our bench certainly doesn't make up the gap.

Sent from my SM-S9080 using RealGM mobile app

We might have somewhat close talent on paper with the starting 5 as individual players if you forget they have to play together as a team and the game has to be played, but their talent fits together better than ours and they don’t have the glaring defensive weaknesses or depth issues that we have.

OG is the only actual good defensive player on the team. Hart is ok on d but gives it all back by being unable to shoot and hurting spacing. Brunson is one of the worst defenders in the league at the point of attack, Towns struggles to play defense and gets in foul trouble when he tries, Mikal has moments but has been woefully unable to guard Tatum and is statistically negative, Payne is a streaky shot and not much else, Mitch has clearly lost a step and isn’t the defensive stalwart he used to be, McBride can be pesky but can’t make a shot to save his life can’t finish at the rim and thus can’t stay on the court. And that’s our rotation.

Meanwhile Boston has no real defensive weakness. Boston held the Magic to 89-98-95-100-86 pts in those 5 games. They allow 107.16 ppg which is the lowest in the nba. They have no real weakness to exploit.

So as concerning as our own defensive holes are, which we will by and large be hoping that they miraculously just can’t make shots, our offense being able to score on their defense is a bigger worry. There were times in each game where we struggled to score against Detroit. We often struggle to make open looks. Between KP, Kornet, and Horford, they have the size to take us out and make sure they get the offensive rebounds on the off chance they do miss a shot. They can all block shots and shoot. They have great defenders at the point of attack to make Brunson fight uphill battle all series, after Ausar already beat on him for 6 games.

Then we have the coaching, as we know they have a championship coach and we have the oft maligned Thibs who has never won, but you couldn’t convince me that the greatest coach in human history wouldn’t likely have their hands full trying to take this situation and win this series. Nobody has beaten them in a playoff series since they got Jrue in 2023. The entire world says we have no chance.

So what I’m saying, is Knicks in 6. Why? Because phuckem’ that’s why. Hopefully KPs leg explodes and their team plane crashes and they have to find replacements.

Quite a thrilling ride, this post.

[Besart19]

if Thibs adjusts and puts Mitch on Tatum we win

Hart is not needed in this series, on both ends he is a net negative vs the C's

Mitch / Achiuwa
Towns / Hart
Anunoby / Shamet
Bridges / McBride
Brunson / Payne

play 10 man rotation and outrun them

[Besart19]

Tatum when guarded by OG this season: 4-16 FG
Tatum when guarded by Mikal this season: 13-19 FG
Tatum when guarded by KAT this season: 16-25 FG

only four Knicks can guard him

OG
Mitch
Achiuwa
Dadiet

[Red Vines]

If we're going to shock the world I see MIkal as the x-factor. Get him going to the basket early and catch Boston by surprise.

[ctorres]

So this is interesting to me

in their series against the Magic, the Celtics shot 37.8% 3pt fg's on 31.2 3pa/g

in their series against the Pistons, the Knicks shot 36.5% 3pt fg's on 30.2 3pa/g

for all that's said about the Celtics being a deadly team from three, they didn't really show that much more than the Knicks did in the 1st round

[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.

[Gant]

So this is interesting to me

in their series against the Magic, the Celtics shot 37.8% 3pt fg's on 31.2 3pa/g

in their series against the Pistons, the Knicks shot 36.5% 3pt fg's on 30.2 3pa/g

for all that's said about the Celtics being a deadly team from three, they didn't really show that much more than the Knicks did in the 1st round

That 37.8 3p% was slightly higher than Boston's regular season average of 36.8%. What was down for Boston was 3 point attempts. In the regular season they normally won by having good three point accuracy (10th) on extraordinary volume (runaway 1st).

Orlando saw this and very effectively played D to take away those 3p attempts. The Celtics responded by moving inside, scoring from 2 and at the line, because that's where the opportunities were. Basically the Magic have built their team to be able to do whatever they need to defensively, but at the expense of offense.


That Magic series was rugged but not close overall. It was the fifth largest point differential of any playoff series in Celtic history.

Sean Grande:

And we'll remember this as a tough series....

https://bsky.app/profile/seangrandepbp.bsky.social/post/3lnyu7z4fak27

[Guano]

Read on Twitter

?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Tf is wrong with you?!

[Jeffrey]

Homer pick is Knicks in 7

Realistic it might be Celts in 5

We can't guard the 3 and they shoot a lot of them. Until I see a defensive strategy change other than "letting the game come to us".

[3toheadmelo]

Read on Twitter

?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

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.

[dakomish23]

So this is interesting to me

in their series against the Magic, the Celtics shot 37.8% 3pt fg's on 31.2 3pa/g

in their series against the Pistons, the Knicks shot 36.5% 3pt fg's on 30.2 3pa/g

for all that's said about the Celtics being a deadly team from three, they didn't really show that much more than the Knicks did in the 1st round

It’s just that when they’re on it’s an avalanche. Look at the box scores. 3 games bad shooting. 2 games scorching hot. Their offense generates a lot of looks and their top 8 can all bomb away.

The fear should be our defensive approach which is always show and recover on the ball handler in a PnR. It can lead to 4 on 3 scenarios and they move the rock

[Worst_to_First]

One of the reasons why we barely beat the Pistons was because of how awful KAT was on defense.

His DFG% at protecting the rim is the worst by anyone in the playoffs. He has a DFG% of 75% at protecting the rim, allowing opponents to shoot 8.5% better. We are pretty much cooked.

We were -6.06 when KAT was off the floor in the series, we lost the minutes when he was out of the game.

This. Not really proud of it but throughout the season, whenever our perimeter defenders get beat I just heave a sigh of relief when an opposing playing just scores on KAT rather than him get in foul trouble. KAT does not exactly get friendly whistles from the refs. We get cooked more often than not when he is off the floor.

It is easy to criticize KAT for whatever defensive numbers are showing but we have to look and analyze things from a more wholistic perspective.

[Worst_to_First]

if Thibs adjusts and puts Mitch on Tatum we win

Hart is not needed in this series, on both ends he is a net negative vs the C's

Mitch / Achiuwa
Towns / Hart
Anunoby / Shamet
Bridges / McBride
Brunson / Payne

play 10 man rotation and outrun them

Actually this. Against Boston I believe what will be key is getting more possessions or chances to score at the basket than them.

I remember Mitch easily blocking a three point attempt of Tatum so I am comfortable with potential switches wherein Mitch guards Tatum on the perimeter.

In the initial set I would put OG on Tatum, Mitch on KP and KAT with their least athletic wing (Holiday). Goal for KAT is to let his man just attempt to take a contested jump shot over him then we game plan on possibilities where he gets beat off the dribble. Mikal is actually a good rim protecting wing whenever his bigs get beat by opposing guards off the dribble.

[Buttah304]

Read on Twitter

?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Are you rooting for the Knicks?

[3toheadmelo]

Read on Twitter

?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Are you rooting for the Knicks?

Of course. Just pointing out that your guys Mikal and KAT are cones and made Tatum put up Jordan numbers.

[TKKnicks1]

We go from one homer in Jalen Rose to another super homer in Paul Pierce. Man I would love to shut him up. Don't forget this guys stomped all over a Knicks jersey and I think even lit it on fire last year. This a*hole needs to be put in his place.

Read on Twitter

?t=G88A04TElwhMm9yK47MlRw&s=19

[Context]

I was looking for subtle adjustments from Thibs the entire series against the Pistons and was left severely disappointed. The offense got worse as the series went on. Thibs regressed to playing the starters crazy minutes and refused to go deeper into the bench despite the horrible play from McBride. I have zero faith in Thibs. The players will have to win and overcome his coaching. I don't think it's possible against Boston. I say it will be a gentlemans sweep. Boston in 5.

I hate to have to agree with you. I love Thibs and respect him on so many levels. However, he refuses to evolve...In the first 20-30 games we saw what
our offensive potential was for this team. How did we regress offensively?!
2. You know why teams go on runs...it's because no human no matter your conditioning can go up and down for more than 3 minutes-hence teams take turns going on runs. Now compound that with 60-75 games of high minutes- how can we expect our guys to consistently guard the 3pt line which is a
must in TODAYS game if you are going to be elite and win. 6-7 guys wont get us to the chip.
3. Our offense is too predictable. That makes us very easy to defend.
4. Did you know in game 6 we had 18 assits? Pistons had 25...
5. Brunson alone cant bail us out.
6. Kat isnt put in a position to succeed.

I know some of you think the MIkal trade hurt- I dont think so - I think we need a brillant offensive coach that can get the most out of this group.
We need 9-10 guys that can be counted on in the rotation. Then we wont be last place at guarding the perimeter. ANd guys need to put the work in the summer. That gets us to the chip level IMO.