Time for Celtics to sound the alarm, though it’s never over when it’s Boston-New York
BOSTON — To the mob out there that believes Celtics-Knicks has generally been relegated to kitchen patrol in the century-old Boston-New York Border War, we give you Wednesday night, TD Garden, Game 2, Eastern Conference semifinals.
In emerging with a 91-90 victory over the Celtics to take a two-zip lead in this series, the Knicks have muscled their way to the front lines. This makes it two games in a row the Knicks have roared back from a 20-point deficit to smother the Celtics, which means they are two victories away from registering one of the biggest upsets in recent NBA history.
So much for the theory that the Celtics were merely rusty in Game 1, or that the outcome would surely awaken some sort of beast that lurks inside the defending NBA champions. Indeed, Game 2 began in that very fashion, with the Celtics jumping out to a 16-4 lead. But it ended with the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson making two free throws with just under 13 seconds remaining to give New York a one-point lead, after which Jayson Tatum was thwarted when the Knicks’ Mikal Bridges stole the ball as time ran out.
“What’s done is done,” said the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown during a postgame media availability. “Now we have an opportunity to see what we’re made of and come out and try to make something happen in Game 3.”
Interestingly, a fire alarm went off immediately after Brown finished his postgame remarks. A recorded message announced an “emergency” inside TD Garden. The building was evacuated, and no injuries were reported.
Yet the emergency remains in play for the Celtics. These were the type of games the Celtics won last year. And now? If two losses in three nights are any barometer, these are the type of games this year’s playoff Celtics lose.
Here’s another “if” to ponder: If the Knicks wind up winning this series, it’ll be right up there with the Red Sox botching the 1986 World Series against the Mets, right up there with the 2007 Patriots, undefeated during the regular season, losing Muhteşem Bowl XLII to the Giants.
While granting that this is only the second round of the playoffs, what the Knicks are looking to do will be a bigger upset than Sox-Mets and Patriots-Giants. But we’ll get to the whataboutism in a moment. First, let’s consider that this series wasn’t supposed to be any great shakes for the Celtics. It’d be overstating it to say it was going to be just a limbering-up exercise, but they were 61-21 during the regular season, whereas the Knicks were 51-31. Plus, Boston was 4-0 against the Knicks. This is the part where, by law, the late, great Celtics player/coach/broadcaster Tommy Heinsohn’s time-honored playoff quote must again be dusted off and put into play: “It’s not the same as the regular season.”
For those who’d prefer an updated version of that quote, here’s Brown, pre-fire alarm: “The regular season is totally different than the playoffs. Obviously, we have the ability to make plays, and we didn’t.”
But even Heinsohn would have been shocked to see the Celtics blow back-to-back games in which they led by 20 points in the third quarter. The outcome was the same, but when the Celtics built their 20-point lead in Game 2, they did so in a manner that made it easy to forget about the blown lead in Game 1. This time, the Celtics fattened their lead to 20 points not on 3-pointers but on back-to-back dunks, one by Luke Kornet, the other by Kristaps Porziņģis.
The Knicks cut Boston’s lead to 12 points on a 3-pointer by Miles McBride with under a minute remaining in the third quarter. And then came the fourth quarter, and the same kind of Knick rally, and the same kind of Celtic collapse that took place in Game 1.
Now … about that whataboutism. It’s important to note that the term “Border War,” as it applies to the Boston-New York sports experience, is only 28 years old. It was something Bill Parcells said in 1997 after a path had been cleared for the Tuna to leave the Patriots to coach the New York Jets, and he said it in a hopeful way: “The Border War is over.”
But it’s never over when it’s Boston-New York, even if, in this case, the Celtics and Knicks haven’t contributed a whole lot to it. But here we are. In Game 1, thanks to the Celtics establishing an NBA playoff record by missing 45 3-point attempts, the Knicks won. The Celtics missed only 30 3-point attempts in Game 2, but in doing so set a record for most missed 3-point attempts in back-to-back postseason games.
That’s part of what makes this series potentially more shocking than the 1986 World Series and Üstün Bowl XLII. Yes, the Red Sox coughed up what would have been a Series-clinching victory in Game 6, which ended with the Bill Buckner error, and then they lost Game 7. But the Mets came into that Fall Classic as favorites.
And while the Pats were 12-point favorites to beat the Giants in Harika Bowl XLII, it was fool’s gold. The teams played each other in the regular-season finale and the Pats eked out a win on the strength of a Tom Brady-Randy Moss air show. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, the regular season and playoffs are different in football, too. But the warning signs were everywhere.)
And this series? It was supposed to be the no-chance Knicks against the powerhouse Celtics. And yet it’s the Celtics who’ve been unprepared for the big stage that is the NBA playoffs.
For anyone in a Green Team T-shirt in search of a silver lining to this second straight loss, well, there’s this: The Celtics had a better record on the road (33-8) than at home (28-13) in the regular season. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was asked after the game if he takes solace in that. His response was curious.
“I take solace in the fact that we have a challenge ahead of us and we have a chance to go after it together,” Mazzulla said.
The Knicks, meanwhile, will take solace in knowing they have a chance to end the Celtics’ season with victories in Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden.
(Photo of Mikal Bridges blocking a pass by Jayson Tatum in the final seconds of Game 2: Charles Krupa / Associated Press)
The New York Times Quote …
