PG: First road loss in this playoff

[HEZI]

I wish that shot was more consistent, but at least he isn't dead weight on the other end. His 4th quarter efficient has been great to lean on.

His shot is very inconsistent. He just can’t get hot from outside like he’s the only starter who hasn’t been able to make more than 3 3s in a game. Everybody else has had at least one game where they are on fire except him.

The team only scored 17 points in the 3rd. Hart scored 9 of them including two 3's to start the half but you don't see how they were constantly sending 2 to the ball with Hart's defender and staying at home on everyone else except Hart?

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&ContextMeasure=FGA&EndPeriod=3&EndRange=21600&GameID=0042400215&PlayerID=0&RangeType=1&Season=2024-25&SeasonType=Playoffs&StartPeriod=3&StartRange=14400&TeamID=1610612752&flag=3&sct=plot&section=game

That is a full 25% of the game where no one except Hart was given an uncontested look. Of course Hart's percentages will be better while unguarded while others have to shoot over 1 or 2 defenders but unfortunately it is a team game. The other guys need to be more consistent but i'm not sure how Hart helps. The other guys are drawing 2 defenders creating easier opportunities for Hart while he is doing the complete opposite.

Mikal Bridges is shooting 25% on wide open looks with no defender within 6 feet

He’s getting more wide open looks than Jaylen Brown but Brown is shooting 58% from those same looks. Josh Hart is shooting 50% from those same looks. OG is shooting 46%. Even guys like Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler are shooting 27-28% from 3 on wide open looks. Mikal has been worse.

And also stop pretending that this is the first time teams have sent two on the ball. We’ve seen this all throughout the playoffs in history, teams send traps and doubles all the time but if the open guy is shooting 50% from those looks then he’s doing his job. And we’ve been getting plenty of open looks and last night nobody else was able to shoot but it’s consistently been Mikal. He’s been shooting poorly all playoffs long

[nykfan42]

the Celtics put you in sophie's choice.

if you fully commit to defending the three, and you somehow survive the barrage of screens... you probably die a death of 1000 back cuts.

so in SOME sense i understand living with the lower percentage shots. but... i got nothin right now.

Good point. The three is what is killing them tho. Once they get 2-3 in a row game over. They have rhythm etc.

Giving up uncontested 3s to them is a non starter. It just shouldn't be happening but we see White, Pritchard, Brown etc wide open.

Derrick White is a good shooter and he gets them quick. You just have to have awareness and they don't seem to be aware at all that he's been killing them all series from 3.

[snadler]

Just curious, would Knicks fans feel comfortable giving randle a 5 year max contract this summer? Because you need to remember if he wasn’t traded that’s what he would be asking for this summer

[Jeff Van Gully]

Just curious, would Knicks fans feel comfortable giving randle a 5 year max contract this summer? Because you need to remember if he wasn’t traded that’s what he would be asking for this summer

two threads for this. this is neither of them.

[Context]

I don't understand how they come out so unprepared.

Coach aside- I think this team needs more time together. The are not a well oiled machine YET. Hopefully in the summer they practice together.

Also, you're gonna get a very different look from a team that comes out without their star and the Celtics still have a lot of good players. I was very concerned before the game that their 3 by committee would be a look that we'd struggle to counter.

They were there fighting for their lives but over the long haul the Knicks will be able to gameplan better for the new reality. I feel a lot better about G6 than I did about G5.

If im being honest...my position on G5 was- I was not sure how it would go and I wouldnt bet on it either way(loss or win).

Our defense was terrible from the start and the refs killed us in the 3rd so that makes me feel good about G6. I also think
our fans, the fact that Brunson and the gang lost a bad one- they will play their best defensive game and I expect Brunson to play his best point guard game. I have no doubt that we will win Cap.

[kNicksGmen]

KAT just doing KAT things on defense. He was supposed to roll back to Kornet so OG could stay on Brown. KAT just walking around aimlessly forcing OG to guard two guys. It's not the first time it's happened and it definitely won't be the last.

meh you don't know what the coverage is. to me the whole game they were doubling the ball handler on screens which had to have been the gameplan so that's on the coach. the 2nd screen was on Kat so Brunson should have dropped and got in front of kornet because at that point there was nothing Kat could do. Maybe Kat shouldn't have been up on the screen to begin with? we saw PLENTY of similar examples where Kat was not in the action and the celtics got a wide open 3 or drive to the rim. The defensive coverages were terrible all night.

they certainly look way to confused on coverages and matchups this late in the playoffs...its not just a KAT thing. I see Hart and Brunson confused a lot as well.

Its like they allow Mikal and OG to fight through screens if they can but if they can't the switch. Which I get that...its does leave some ambiguity for KAT to make last second decisions on if he has to switch or hedge and recover. In this instance how is he suppose to see the follow up screen...that is 100% on Brunson to start communicating that he is being backed screened.

Yea again hard to know what they are supposed to be doing - but based on what actually happened Kat should have stayed up and Bridges should have switched to Pritchard and Brunson drops back to Kornet. Or Brunson needs to sprint to brown and let OG sink to switch onto Kornet. Either way I don't see it on Kat unless he was never supposed to actually be up on the screen - which I doubt that was the plan considering White was killing up from 3. Other option is Bridges switches way earlier onto Kornet.

[Capn'O]

Coach aside- I think this team needs more time together. The are not a well oiled machine YET. Hopefully in the summer they practice together.

Also, you're gonna get a very different look from a team that comes out without their star and the Celtics still have a lot of good players. I was very concerned before the game that their 3 by committee would be a look that we'd struggle to counter.

They were there fighting for their lives but over the long haul the Knicks will be able to gameplan better for the new reality. I feel a lot better about G6 than I did about G5.

If im being honest...my position on G5 was- I was not sure how it would go and I wouldnt bet on it either way(loss or win).

Our defense was terrible from the start and the refs killed us in the 3rd so that makes me feel good about G6. I also think
our fans, the fact that Brunson and the gang lost a bad one- they will play their best defensive game and I expect Brunson to play his best point guard game. I have no doubt that we will win Cap.

Same. I knew there was a good chance Boston could rally without Tatum and get hot and they did.

Can't look ahead. Laser focus on the task at hand is needed. These are still the defending champs.

[Handledatruth]

Believe or not, Tatum getting hurt did not help us that much. The Celtics loses this series have been due to Tatum's style of play. Now we have to adjust to how Brown plays and when he is the focal point, the Cs are a more cerebral team. That being said, there is no reason for White to still be this open without Tatum on the floor. If we are giving up 30+ to White then we deserve to lose. You'd think we are playing against Ray Allen or something.

[Context]

Also, you're gonna get a very different look from a team that comes out without their star and the Celtics still have a lot of good players. I was very concerned before the game that their 3 by committee would be a look that we'd struggle to counter.

They were there fighting for their lives but over the long haul the Knicks will be able to gameplan better for the new reality. I feel a lot better about G6 than I did about G5.

If im being honest...my position on G5 was- I was not sure how it would go and I wouldnt bet on it either way(loss or win).

Our defense was terrible from the start and the refs killed us in the 3rd so that makes me feel good about G6. I also think
our fans, the fact that Brunson and the gang lost a bad one- they will play their best defensive game and I expect Brunson to play his best point guard game. I have no doubt that we will win Cap.

Same. I knew there was a good chance Boston could rally without Tatum and get hot and they did.

Can't look ahead. Laser focus on the task at hand is needed. These are still the defending champs.

3 things are CERTAIN. Thibs is defense, this Knick team has elite WILL and this Knick team can play Elite defense.
Thats all we need to close them out at home.

[Jeff Van Gully]

The Celtics were amped to get one for Tatum and the crowd got into it. Although I thought we were playing in Brooklyn, is was a loud Knicks-mania for a minute in the TD Garden.

This Knicks team is learning along the way and I have confidence they'll be more than ready next game. This is just another wholesome experience for this Brunson lead team.

would love to believe that.

Ummm.....excuse me? What's that smell?

reaching, as usual.

[CharlesOakley]

I hate to say it but this was probably the most demoralizing loss in my entire life of watching this team

Even though I knew it was coming, it didn't matter. I have a nagging feeling it is more than just an inability to close out type loss, there is probably something bigger at play here and dear lord if the worst case scenario happens, holy ****.

I thought the ptsd of the garden was gone after we won last game but the way we lost this one, I think it completely brought it back. I'm now 100% sure the garden will be tight as **** with massive ptsd in game 6.

Silver wants game 6 at MSG and to keep the playoffs rolling. This 3rd quarter was one of the most blatant fix jobs of recent memory. Most FTA Celtics had in a quarter this series was 11 and that was 1st quarter game 1 while refs were feeling out the series. They've averaged 21 FTA per game this series.

20 FTA in the 3rd quarter alone plus 5 fouls on brunson in the quarter alone is just completely obvious and sad really.

The league didn’t use to be this blatant, but I think with more “parity” they got to do more to give one side a legit edge over the other. Back in the day it would have only needed 20 FTA or 5 foul on Brunson to give a team an edge. Doing both and the fouling him out right when clutch time, aka his highest scoring period begins is just ridiculous overkill.

The worst fixing I ever saw was game 6 of the Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the Kings. I think 4th quarter free throws was 27 for the Lakers and 9 for the Kings. The worst play was when Kobe elbowed Bibby in the face catching an inbound pass and the refs called a defensive foul on Doug Christie and Kobe goes to the line. This was will 12 seconds left in the game.

[Capn'O]

Believe or not, Tatum getting hurt did not help us that much. The Celtics loses this series have been due to Tatum's style of play. Now we have to adjust to how Brown plays and when he is the focal point, the Cs are a more cerebral team. That being said, there is no reason for White to still be this open without Tatum on the floor. If we are giving up 30+ to White then we deserve to lose. You'd think we are playing against Ray Allen or something.

They lost a lot on defense and won't be able to keep up what they did yesterday. We'll get bodies on White (and Kornet!) for G6.

Them swapping Tatum for Hauser switched the game up pretty drastically for us but it's not a better team. We'll also need to get JB going again and OG a wine bath.

[JayTWill]

His shot is very inconsistent. He just can’t get hot from outside like he’s the only starter who hasn’t been able to make more than 3 3s in a game. Everybody else has had at least one game where they are on fire except him.

The team only scored 17 points in the 3rd. Hart scored 9 of them including two 3's to start the half but you don't see how they were constantly sending 2 to the ball with Hart's defender and staying at home on everyone else except Hart?

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&ContextMeasure=FGA&EndPeriod=3&EndRange=21600&GameID=0042400215&PlayerID=0&RangeType=1&Season=2024-25&SeasonType=Playoffs&StartPeriod=3&StartRange=14400&TeamID=1610612752&flag=3&sct=plot&section=game

That is a full 25% of the game where no one except Hart was given an uncontested look. Of course Hart's percentages will be better while unguarded while others have to shoot over 1 or 2 defenders but unfortunately it is a team game. The other guys need to be more consistent but i'm not sure how Hart helps. The other guys are drawing 2 defenders creating easier opportunities for Hart while he is doing the complete opposite.

Mikal Bridges is shooting 25% on wide open looks with no defender within 6 feet

He’s getting more wide open looks than Jaylen Brown but Brown is shooting 58% from those same looks. Josh Hart is shooting 50% from those same looks. OG is shooting 46%. Even guys like Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler are shooting 27-28% from 3 on wide open looks. Mikal has been worse.

And also stop pretending that this is the first time teams have sent two on the ball. We’ve seen this all throughout the playoffs in history, teams send traps and doubles all the time but if the open guy is shooting 50% from those looks then he’s doing his job. And we’ve been getting plenty of open looks and last night nobody else was able to shoot but it’s consistently been Mikal. He’s been shooting poorly all playoffs long

And that accounts for 1.2 of Mikal's shot attempts per game at 33% in this series. 33% or 50% of 1.2 fga is insignificant and i'm curious how many of those limited shots are those terrible pull up transition 3's that he takes. Hart is getting almost 4 wide open 3pt fga this series and that doesn't include the other half that he turns down. There is no way you can look at those clips and not clearly see how Hart impacts the half court offense in a negative way. Even when Mikal is ice cold they don't ignore him the way they ignore Hart.

In those clips Hart made two 3's without anyone in his zip code and somehow in the next 2-3 possessions turned down 2 more wide opens 3's to drive into the paint which created no advantage. One where he brought his defender right to KAT before dumping it off to him leading to KAT getting his shot blocked and another where Hart got his shot blocked. Explain to me how he is making the offense easier for his teammates in those clips please.

[K_ick_God]

It's unfortunate to me that so many still have their heart in this. I know, I know, up 3-2 and had a good G4. But they've played poorly at home about as often as they've played well. This Boston team is still better than the Pistons, who beat the Knicks soundly at MSG two times. Both times the Knicks played dreadfully.

And like, we could be up 3 and 16 seconds away from the ECF and Thibs will just not foul and give some roundabout explanation why. The distance between fan hopes and how closely or carefully the team is being coached is a real bummer lol.

[Context]

It's unfortunate to me that so many still have their heart in this. I know, I know, up 3-2 and had a good G4. But they've played poorly at home about as often as they've played well. This Boston team is still better than the Pistons, who beat the Knicks soundly at MSG two times. Both times the Knicks played dreadfully.

And like, we could be up 3 and 16 seconds away from the ECF and Thibs will just not foul and give some roundabout explanation why. The distance between fan hopes and how closely or carefully the team is being coached is a real bummer lol.

I've figured our Knicks out. They are inconsistent because they havent played together long enough to have evolved into "well oiled machine status". This is why their play is up and down against very good to elite teams. However, they have the most WILL of any team in the ENITRE league. This is why -regardless of the fact that they havent fully blossumed as a team. They can Will wins against anyone.

Last night was simple- they failed to play elite defense against a desparate and emotional celtics team at home. Not to mention, they didnt get a fair whistle
from the refs in a crucial 3rd quarter and Brunson picked up a rare 5 fouls in 1 quarter.

That wont happen in game 6 KG.

[Guano]

Dako, you and billy got more support

Read on Twitter

[Deeeez Knicks]

It was a really bad game, but just need to refocus and close them out tomorrow and it's all good.

[NiceLikeChrist]

Read on Twitter

turrable!!!!

this is the start of the game...everyone should be fresh...hart jogging back on defense...Mikal only one looking like he's communicating who has who. Hart just doesn't really make a move to anyone...KAT thinks no one has KP so he gets caught sinking into the paint too far and then a wide open corner 3 for there first shot.

just inexcusable stuff.

KAT again ...

How many times have we seen something like this? I still remember a couple of times throughout the season where OG was pushing KAT to guard his man.

KAT?? Why the hell didn’t mikal pick him up instead of standing around in the middle of the court pointing fingers? Why are we relying on KAT to pick up Derrick white in transition?

He should be treated like curry is on the back of his jersey but it was very clearly not a point of emphasis by the coaching staff to find him and stick to him every play

[HEZI]

The team only scored 17 points in the 3rd. Hart scored 9 of them including two 3's to start the half but you don't see how they were constantly sending 2 to the ball with Hart's defender and staying at home on everyone else except Hart?

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&ContextMeasure=FGA&EndPeriod=3&EndRange=21600&GameID=0042400215&PlayerID=0&RangeType=1&Season=2024-25&SeasonType=Playoffs&StartPeriod=3&StartRange=14400&TeamID=1610612752&flag=3&sct=plot&section=game

That is a full 25% of the game where no one except Hart was given an uncontested look. Of course Hart's percentages will be better while unguarded while others have to shoot over 1 or 2 defenders but unfortunately it is a team game. The other guys need to be more consistent but i'm not sure how Hart helps. The other guys are drawing 2 defenders creating easier opportunities for Hart while he is doing the complete opposite.

Mikal Bridges is shooting 25% on wide open looks with no defender within 6 feet

He’s getting more wide open looks than Jaylen Brown but Brown is shooting 58% from those same looks. Josh Hart is shooting 50% from those same looks. OG is shooting 46%. Even guys like Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler are shooting 27-28% from 3 on wide open looks. Mikal has been worse.

And also stop pretending that this is the first time teams have sent two on the ball. We’ve seen this all throughout the playoffs in history, teams send traps and doubles all the time but if the open guy is shooting 50% from those looks then he’s doing his job. And we’ve been getting plenty of open looks and last night nobody else was able to shoot but it’s consistently been Mikal. He’s been shooting poorly all playoffs long

And that accounts for 1.2 of Mikal's shot attempts per game at 33% in this series. 33% or 50% of 1.2 fga is insignificant and i'm curious how many of those limited shots are those terrible pull up transition 3's that he takes. Hart is getting almost 4 wide open 3pt fga this series and that doesn't include the other half that he turns down. There is no way you can look at those clips and not clearly see how Hart impacts the half court offense in a negative way. Even when Mikal is ice cold they don't ignore him the way they ignore Hart.

In those clips Hart made two 3's without anyone in his zip code and somehow in the next 2-3 possessions turned down 2 more wide opens 3's to drive into the paint which created no advantage. One where he brought his defender right to KAT before dumping it off to him leading to KAT getting his shot blocked and another where Hart got his shot blocked. Explain to me how he is making the offense easier for his teammates in those clips please.

33% is still terrible. Not to mention his 2 point percentage is not good either and most of his 2 pointers are in 1 on 1 situations. His best game of the series and he still only shot 1-6 from 3. OG is shooting better. Brunson is shooting better. Hart is shooting better. Mikal has been terrible. And you can go rewatch all of the games from the series and see how many open looks he’s bricked and no I’m not just talking about those transition pull ups.

You say Hart isn’t making the offense easier, how exactly is Mikal making the offense easier? He’s had one good offensive game all series and that includes a 1-6 shooting game. Everybody else has been able to provide more, someway somehow despite the same defensive coverage of Boston.

[mpharris36]

It was a really bad game, but just need to refocus and close them out tomorrow and it's all good.

Yeah I have confidence this team has shown it can rebound in the playoffs off a stinker. Really just need to find Derrick White early and often.

Brunson didn't play well, and we didn't get much from Mikal, OG, and KAT...I can't believe they all play poorly again.