Final Meeting a Scary Sign for Both Knicks and Celtics

NEW YORK — Tom Thibodeau effectively predicted how Celtics-Knicks would play out before the game. He already watched it three times, Boston sweeping the season series over New York in a game that unraveled differently in the second half, but felt the same as the Celtics won in overtime, 119-117.

“You gotta play for 48 minutes against them and you have to be disciplined,” he said. “The last game was a four point game in the fourth quarter, and then a bad minute and they can put 10 points up on the board on you real quick and so you can never let your guard down and you can never relax. And sometimes, you can challenge a shot great, they’re a high-volume three point shooting team and they have a number of great shooters.”

Six threes in the third quarter, on call, flipped an 11-point first half Knicks lead into a Boston advantage, forcing a New York timeout only 90 seconds into the third. The aforementioned tough threes, a long Kristaps Porziņģis pick-and-pop heave fading away in a tie game late in overtime, became the difference. And despite Karl-Anthony Towns scoring 34 points, the full New York lineup returning behind Mitchell Robinson, Jaylen Brown exiting the game in third quarter and Al Horford celebrating a Florida national championship elsewhere — the Knicks lost again.

Boston nearly collapsed late in the fourth quarter after expanding its lead to seven with five minutes remaining. Derrick White uncharacteristically committed a pair of fourth quarter turnovers. Then, New York began pummeling Porziņģis in the post and stepping into mid-rangers before OG Anunoby put back a Jalen Brunson miss to take the lead with the Celtics playing smaller on Towns.

Boston went big, forcing New York to counter with Robinson in place of Brunson on defense, but that drew Towns onto Tatum at the three-point line, who committed a foul there. Tatum made 2-of-3 with Boston trailing by three and Josh Hart cut for a layup to take those points back before Tatum buried a game-tying step back three, creating feet of separation on Anunoby when the Knicks could’ve taken a foul.

“The defense was scattered,” Joe Mazzulla said, who didn’t call timeout going into the play. “It kept a certain lineup on the court, they can talk about if they’re going to foul … and it changes the dynamic of the plays that you can run … there’s a little bit of unpredictability … (New York) tests your attention to detail. I thought our defensive attention to detail was good. I thought our offense could use a little bit more work.”

Mazzulla’s edge over Thibodeau looms large with both teams seemingly on a second round collision course. The Celtics out-shot the Knicks in attempts from three by 11, an edge they’ve in all four games, including by 31 on opening night. They lured Towns away from the three-point line again, attempting on three there after eight combined in the previous three matchups. He averaged 4.8 attempts per game entering Tuesday for the season.

It took 70 seconds for Porziņģis, by contrast, to find his eighth three into overtime after a three-minute layoff to begin the period, beating Brunson’s switch with a bomb from the logo after sealing Hart for free throws. He scored 34, counteracting Towns’ equal scoring night while Boston juggled lineups late following Brown’s exit from the game. His night concluding late in the third quarter at 22 minutes for the second straight game raised more concern about his lingering knee injury. Mazzulla said they got what they needed from him, 2-of-8 shooting and six points, but Porziņģis made a more plainly-stated plea for Brown to rest the remainder of the schedule.

“He always preaches a warrior mindset,” Porziņģis said. “But to what extent we need that right now? Maybe he needs to take care of it and make sure he’s going to be ready for the most important moment … we have to encourage him to make sure he does everything he needs to prepare to get it healthy and to prepare for what’s going to come. I think he’s a smart guy… it just shows his heart, how bad we wants to be out there even for games that don’t means super much.”

Those words stung as much as the moments where Brown couldn’t separate, elevate or find the ball control he could in other games. He appeared increasingly limited, another significant development in his injury saga that remains the only cloud over the Celtics’ hopeful entrance into the playoffs next weekend. Even if Brown opts for as many as 12 days off before the postseason, there’ll still be questions about how much additional rest he and the team have passed up to this point. Though Brown has cast doubt on how much rest can help what’s been described as a bone bruise. He’s, instead, attempted to learn how to play through it.

Yet despite those limitations, the Celtics’ starters climbed back to a +0.0 for the season in their likely final full action together ahead of the playoffs. They received the Knicks’ best shot yet and sustained enough offense through 15 turnovers to win. So much went New York’s way only for Boston to win again. And on a collision course for another meeting in May, it doesn’t look like the Knicks can muster the significant threat they appeared to post when they acquired Mikal Bridges, Towns and the wing depth to match Boston’s perimeter players. The Celtics made at least 17 threes in every game, Tatum scored at least 25 and looked ready to shoulder the load for whatever amount of time Brown can’t play.

But Mazzulla and White agreed what the season sweep means for Boston later this month. Nothing.

“We’ve all been there to a certain extent,” Tatum said. “It’s tough mentally when you’re out there and you maybe can’t do the things that you normally do, so it’s a mental hurdle you have to fight, but that’s why it’s a team sport, you got teammates that got your back covered for you and just help you get through things.”

• The Celtics play a back-to-back on Wednesday in Orlando. Tatum, Brown, Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday and White all appeared on the injury report on Tuesday, likely setting up a massive rest night for the team’s final road game.
• That’s despite a Celtics win tomorrow tying the 2016 Warriors for the best road record in NBA history. Mazzulla, who said he didn’t know about it, didn’t sound interested in pursuing the milestone.
• Neither did Payton Pritchard, who explained his decision to forgo talks with Brown’s 741 sneaker brand to sign with Converse earlier this month. Pritchard joked that Brown would understand when he saw the money difference, and said his teammate wasn’t heartbroken over the decision.
• Boston’s starting lineup returned to a +0.0 net rating on Tuesday after spending most of the season in negative territory. White blamed a poor team shooting stretch after Porziņģis returned from injury. Tatum expressed confidence they’ve logged enough minutes together. Mazzulla, of course, said he hadn’t given their struggles a second of his thought.
• The Magic defeated the Hawks on Tuesday, building a two game lead on Atlanta for the seventh seed with three games remaining. Chicago’s loss to Cleveland kept the Hawks 1.0 game in front of the Bulls. Miami faces Chicago on Wednesday in a game that should give further clarity on who will play in the play-in game that’ll decide Boston’s first round opponent. The overwhelmingly likely matchup remains Hawks-Magic.
• As for the Knicks, they’re likely hosting the Pistons to begin the first round, though Detroit has two shots at Milwaukee on Friday and Sunday trailing them by 2.0 games in the standings.
• Brown, who’s denied the 65-game awards minimum being a factor in him playing late this season, reached 63 games on Tuesday with three to go. He’s allowed to play only 15 minutes in the two games left for him to remain eligible to make a an All-NBA team. Though it appears increasingly unlikely he would beat other contenders, including Brunson, who’s back on track to remain eligible (63 G with 3 remaining).