How the Celtics Collapsed Again in Game 2 Ahead by 20 Points on Knicks

BOSTON — The Celtics led by five points with under three minutes remaining on Wednesday night when officials convened to review a Mikal Bridges long two during timeout. They reversed it to a three, reducing Boston’s lead to four while Mitchell Robinson returned to the floor. With little time remaining before the two-minute rule discontinuing intentional fouls went into place, Joe Mazzulla called for two intentional fouls on Robinson. It thrust the Knicks into the bonus, brought OG Anunoby back into the game for Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns finished a put-back through a Derrick White cross-match to pull within one point.

It’s hard to point to that moment as an inflection point in what became an 89-88 Celtics loss after the Knicks trailed by 20 points again. New York going into the bonus didn’t come into play, unless you believe it allowed Jalen Brunson more offensive freedom on his decisive three scoring plays that followed. Tatum missed a tough baseline fadeaway over Anunoby on the ensuing possession.

Tom Thibodeau, speaking pre-game, loved the idea of the Celtics fouling Robinson on purpose. It blew up in Boston’s face in Game 1, despite Robinson shooting 3-for-10, because it set up Luke Kornet foul trouble later after Kristaps Porziņģis left that game.

“It’s two-fold,” Thibodeau said. “Obviously, he has great impact on the game when he’s on the floor with the extra possessions. Fouls can get us to the bonus, so we can take advantage of it that way, and it also allows us to set our defense. So there’s some advantages to that as well. When you look at points per possessions, that’s what your looking at, then you gotta make decisions based on what’s going on in the game, how well is he shooting them.”

Joe Mazzulla said after the game that Robinson’s impact necessitated getting him off the floor, New York out-scored Boston by 19 points in his minutes, but a look at the film revealed six quality scoring opportunities against Robinson lineups coming directly prior to the Robinson fouling.

Payton Pritchard missed a great three against a botched switch.

Al Horford missed a wide open corner three when Anunoby needed to help Robinson.

White stepped into an open three over the drop.

After White hit free throws to stay ahead by seven on the fast break, he pressured Josh Hart’s hedge on Tatum with another good look. Even if you think it was rushed, it’s better than Tatum driving into traffic. Look at all the heads turned toward him.

Tatum got the dream look of the night that could’ve been the knockout punch on the next possession. I have no idea why anyone would think driving is the move here with a practice three in the corner.

Jaylen Brown, beating the drop again, missed a three completely open.

So not to play the make-miss game again, the Celtics are 25-for-100 (25%) from deep in this series and 32.8% from three this postseason. It’s understandable why many fans have grown disgusted by that and players might begin questioning the number of threes they’re taking, Boston attempted 20 fewer in Game 2. But they can’t veer from their game plan and who they are. The worst misses in this series have still been twos.

Let’s get into what went wrong here.

After the Celtics went ahead by 20 points late in the third, Porziņģis missed a tip-in that he had to have. Offensive rebounding is so important if Boston wants to counter its slower shooting nights. Miles McBride takes the inside miss back for a dunk.

Then, Porziņģis misses a read to his right on the roll, commits an offensive foul and strangely fouls Robinson intentionally outside of the bonus and under two minutes. The obsessions with fouling him showed early late in the third quarter on what looked like a mistake.

Tatum makes a string of mistakes playing way too far off Hart, who cuts the lead to 15 points with a corner three, before Tatum tossed a lob over Porziņģis’ head that became a turnover and a McBride three.

Brown botched a two-for-one late in the quarter by playing in traffic, albeit with bad spacing, before tossing up a tough three at the buzzer. Boston led by 12 after three.

While Mikal Bridges began hitting tough shots at the start of the fourth, the Celtics slowed down, taking nearly 20 seconds to line up Tatum on Robinson on their first possession — a prayer three-pointer that was the worst I saw. This isn’t exactly Robinson blowing up a play.

Porziņģis’ minutes became concerning in the fourth. He couldn’t generate lift or power over and through Bridges switches.

Horford, minutes piling up as the Knicks attacked him and Porziņģis appeared less often, missed three key two-pointers into the fourth. This one, following a near game-losing turnover by Hart, turned into a five point swing the other way.

But the best bet for the Celtics continued to be their clean three-point looks. This miss by Horford allowed him to get back and stop Bridges on defense.

This miss by Tatum, driving into traffic, would’ve been a New York catalyst if the ball didn’t bounce to Pritchard.

Then, there’s this play. Tatum just fell asleep with a loose ball available ahead by 16 points. Whole new game.

Pritchard and Horford seem to pass up good looks here. And the whole team begins to look less sure of itself as Bridges starts hitting ridiculous shots. White hedged onto a Bridges three-point try, which freed Hart for an offensive rebound that allowed Brunson to cut the Celtics’ lead to single-digits.

In crunch time, Brown lined Brunson up twice inside the arc. He missed both, White unable to put back the second, which allowed Brunson to beat Horford up the floor after he made a shot over Holiday.

Shot-making came into play late, the Celtics closing 5-for-28 and 2-for-14 from three, and there’s an element of the Knicks making the more challenging plays that can swing a playoff series.

Boston hasn’t hit those yet in this series, and while yet provides some solace and hope for a turnaround — the shooting won’t stay this bad — there’s no room for error left.

The Celtics already wasted theirs leading by 20 points twice. Remember when Boston’s 2023 furious comeback in the east finals fell apart with one ankle turn.