2025 NBA PLAYOFFS East Semifinals: #2 Boston Celtics vs #3 New York Knicks (NYK leads 1-0)

[bronxknicksfan1]

It's hard to take takes that say the reason the Knicks lost was because the Celtics played the worst game of the season seriously because they were up literally up by 20

That's quite a contradiction

100% this.

[omerome]

Credit to NY for such a resilient performance. I still think Boston will back door sweep NY. Maybe I’m wrong, but to me, it mostly did come down to 3P variance really not going Boston’s way, and over the course of a series, especially with the volume that the Celtics take, that kind of thing can happen. The fact that Boston almost won in spite of that tells me their floor as a team is still too high for NY to compete most nights.

The Knicks won the game...on the road and being down by 20, shooting 54.8% (17/31) from the free throw line.

When does that happen?

[bronxknicksfan1]

Credit to NY for such a resilient performance. I still think Boston will back door sweep NY. Maybe I’m wrong, but to me, it mostly did come down to 3P variance really not going Boston’s way, and over the course of a series, especially with the volume that the Celtics take, that kind of thing can happen. The fact that Boston almost won in spite of that tells me their floor as a team is still too high for NY to compete most nights.

The Knicks won the game...on the road and being down by 20, shooting 54.8% (17/31) from the free throw line.

When does that happen?

“Almost won in spite of…”

Brother, they were up 20 lmao.

Also, give credit to the Knick’s’ defense.

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[LFGK]

Credit to NY for such a resilient performance. I still think Boston will back door sweep NY. Maybe I’m wrong, but to me, it mostly did come down to 3P variance really not going Boston’s way, and over the course of a series, especially with the volume that the Celtics take, that kind of thing can happen. The fact that Boston almost won in spite of that tells me their floor as a team is still too high for NY to compete most nights.

I'd worry about your reg season merchant squad getting sent home in 5 big dawg more so then the knicks.......

[cgf]

wtf were the Mavs thinking breaking up Luka and Brunson

Brunson would have never reached this level playing next to Luka.

Mavs still botched it, but yea, Brunson gets to be the guy here, that wasn’t happening in Dallas.

That's what I thought at the time...but knowing the doubts that the Mavs eventually developed about Luka, would Brunson have have gotten to be the guy in Dallas; only with an even better supporting cast if the Mavs had been able to be more strategic about trading Luka without the fanbase rioting the way it did? It's not like Jalen hadn't shown glimpses of this when Luka went down, and they would've seen the way he worked on his game first hand.

[cgf]

Jaylen Brown shouldn't play game 2. He is not fit/healthy

Do you guys have the depth to do that? What would your rotation look like with no Brown or Hauser (with or without KP)? Hopefully he's good to go moving forward, because whether we win or lose I want to see what this team looks like at its best against the best.

[cgf]

It’s always the ones that never have a dog in the fight that talk the most ****.

This has been me in every Pacers / Wolves series so far

[cgf]

Gotta thank the pistons man, the got the Knicks ready to fight this series, I expect more physicality moving forward

The east is becoming really good again with Detroit and Orlando close to joining the top 4...any of whom I could see beating OKC or Minnesota in the finals this year if things go their way.

The Bucks & 6ers are cooked, but Miami has a supporting cast that's just missing a star, and when Jalen Johnson is healthy for them, the Hawks have been very tricksy.

[LFGK]

Credit to NY for such a resilient performance. I still think Boston will back door sweep NY. Maybe I’m wrong, but to me, it mostly did come down to 3P variance really not going Boston’s way, and over the course of a series, especially with the volume that the Celtics take, that kind of thing can happen. The fact that Boston almost won in spite of that tells me their floor as a team is still too high for NY to compete most nights.

The Knicks won the game...on the road and being down by 20, shooting 54.8% (17/31) from the free throw line.

When does that happen?

Nope none of these things happened, the Celtics missed 78 threes, that's the only thing that happened in the game, guys talking bout Celtics in 5, might be Knicks in 5, the young kid has no answer for OG ill take my chances with the rest of them bombing away 50 threes, after its 2-0 tomorrow, it's gonna turn into Celtics in 6

[Revived]

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[ibraheim718]

OG is clearly the x-factor in this series. He should be the 2nd or 3rd offensive option. They really needy to clear out a side and give him a few face up looks a quarter. If he can average 20 mpg Boston is in trouble.

[ibraheim718]

Credit to NY for such a resilient performance. I still think Boston will back door sweep NY. Maybe I’m wrong, but to me, it mostly did come down to 3P variance really not going Boston’s way, and over the course of a series, especially with the volume that the Celtics take, that kind of thing can happen. The fact that Boston almost won in spite of that tells me their floor as a team is still too high for NY to compete most nights.

Come on man. You think Boston is going to win at MSG twice? The Knicks still had to de special things on offense to win the game yesterday and they did. At some point you have to look at this objectively.. the Knicks have a lot of talent in that starting 5.. and they're liable to have good games at any moment even though they really struggled at times throughout the regular season and against Detroit.

[RHODEY]

Game 2 will be very, very telling from Boston in terms of their approach, and performances from their main guys. Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday in the second quarter should have been the template, really. That was the best quarter for Boston all game, and they walked into half-time with a 16-point lead. Then they crapped themselves in the 3rd and were even worse somehow in the fourth. Especially Tatum, just chucking from 3.

They were able to mess with our personnel in H1 getting KAT into foul trouble and then hacking Mitch. They ran up the score when we were scrambling with a small lineup and Precious after that. I don't think that trick works a second time. KAT needs to be more disciplined and the coaches will be in his head about that. Then if they hack Mitch you can just put KAT back in.

I expect the Celtics to take G2. It's just tough to take two from a team of this caliber on the road and they're likely to get hot. But if the margins are close again I think the Knicks have a good shot at the series. Analysts are attributing the poor shooting performance to the Cs just missing but the Knicks have great wing defenders. We'll also be able to play more physical at the Garden and that bodes better for us against the Celtics than vs. Detroit who dgaf.

Even the hack a Mitch was more effective than it should have been if we’re assuming everyone regresses to their means. Robinson is a terrible FT shooter, but 30% is not 50%. That is another bucket and maybe an earlier end to that strat, allowing Robinson to stay on the court in the first half.

I expect Boston to come out for blood in game 2 and wax us, but if they don’t…or they do and we can elevate our game enough to still hang with them, I’m going to start getting very optimistic about our chances to steal this.

But odds are we head back to the garden tied, with Boston’s ego protected and us satisfied with our split.

I expect Boston to get waxed...again

[cgf]

They were able to mess with our personnel in H1 getting KAT into foul trouble and then hacking Mitch. They ran up the score when we were scrambling with a small lineup and Precious after that. I don't think that trick works a second time. KAT needs to be more disciplined and the coaches will be in his head about that. Then if they hack Mitch you can just put KAT back in.

I expect the Celtics to take G2. It's just tough to take two from a team of this caliber on the road and they're likely to get hot. But if the margins are close again I think the Knicks have a good shot at the series. Analysts are attributing the poor shooting performance to the Cs just missing but the Knicks have great wing defenders. We'll also be able to play more physical at the Garden and that bodes better for us against the Celtics than vs. Detroit who dgaf.

Even the hack a Mitch was more effective than it should have been if we’re assuming everyone regresses to their means. Robinson is a terrible FT shooter, but 30% is not 50%. That is another bucket and maybe an earlier end to that strat, allowing Robinson to stay on the court in the first half.

I expect Boston to come out for blood in game 2 and wax us, but if they don’t…or they do and we can elevate our game enough to still hang with them, I’m going to start getting very optimistic about our chances to steal this.

But odds are we head back to the garden tied, with Boston’s ego protected and us satisfied with our split.

I expect Boston to get waxed...again

Nah. We'll drop game two before stealing a nail-biter in game 3 and then thump in game 4, so Jalen can close it out on the road again

[RHODEY]

Like who ? Mikal ?

Yes he just dropped 25 in a critical game for the Knicks as the Nets watched from Cancun.

Mikal good first quarter , 0 points but one rebound

I’d say way worth it 5 first round picks

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[cgf]

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At least one was for eating Bogey, so you might be right

[RB34]

It’s always the ones that never have a dog in the fight that talk the most ****.

This has been me in every Pacers / Wolves series so far

Likewise, at least you and I have our teams visible.

[Revived]

I wonder if Knicks are gonna continue to stubbornly force feed KAT the ball. Horford is the kind of big that can neutralize bigs like Towns. He’s made Joel Embiid his you-know-what in basically every playoff series they’ve had against each other. Got so bad that Sixers signed Horford just so that Embiid wouldn’t have to play against him.

But anyway yeah back to Towns, I think it would be a very poor strategy.

[Revived]

Bringing up the 5 first rd picks thing so much is kind of funny to me. What are the chances that the Nets draft someone with those picks who can provide the level of impact that Bridges has provided in the playoffs? Would anyone here bet say $100 on that? I doubt it.

Bridges isn’t a star player but even drafting excellent role players is very difficult in the draft as it’s crapshoot. And Knicks aren’t gonna be a lottery team during any of the years those picks coney so it’s absolutely a crapshoot at that point of drafts.

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At least one was for eating Bogey, so you might be right