Welcome To Cancun: The Unfortunate Truth Is That The Boston Celtics Were Completely Outplayed In Their Series Against The Knicks

Nathaniel S. Butler. Getty Images.

I think right from the jump it's important that we make something crystal clear when it comes to talking about this game and this series overall. I'm going to try and make this as easy to understand as possible.

The New York Knicks completely outplayed the Celtics in this series. They earned this series win by playing winning basketball when it mattered. This ending was not a result of Jayson Tatum getting hurt. They did not win this series because the Celts were dealing with injuries or a mystery illness, they won it because of execution and a relentless play style that you need to have to win in the postseason.

Period. Full stop.

It's OK to acknowledge when you get outplayed. It's OK to admit that while you had your chances to put this series away, it was the Knicks who made the plays that usually dictate who wins a series. 

Game 6 was a perfect example of what that looks like. Right from the opening jump, you could tell one side was playing with force and like their season was on the line while the Celts looked tight as hell. The Knicks imposed their will, the Celts played into their hands with careless and lazy basketball, and when that happens it's no surprise who the Basketball Gods reward in that spot. We know this because for over 200+ games that's exactly what we've seen work in the Celts favor. 

Is it embarrassing for the Celts to have things play out this way? Of course. They were the overwhelming favorite and all that stuff. But at the end of the day, it comes down to what happens on the court, and in this series, they were not the better team. Or at the very least, they did not play like the better team. I know some may not want to give the Knicks credit, but I dunno, I have eyes. As I said above, they earned this series win. This wasn't like 2023 where we had to watch the Heat have the fakest shooting production of all time where Caleb Martin comes out of nowhere and shoots 75% from three. That's not how the Knicks won this game or this series. They won it playing their style and executing their strengths, and they deserve credit for that.

If someone wants to call this one of the biggest Celts playoff chokes in their history, I'm not going to push back. Why would I? How else would you explain it, given how things unfolded? They had their chances early in the sieres, choked them away on 3 separate occasions, and then ultimately learned why you can't fuck around in the postseason. 

Said another way, the Celts were up by at least 20 points in 4 of the 6 games and by at least 15 points in 5 of the 6 games of this series. They won 2 of those games. What else would you call that? 

Alright, I think you get the point. Now comes the fun part, where we get to pick over the dead body that is the 2024-2025 Boston Celtics. Let's begin.

The Good

The Bad

- It's hard to ignore just how "off" things felt right from the opening tip. The way the Celts started this game, it felt like they were sped up and forced out of whack. I'm not sure if that was due to the physicality defensively, a mental collapse or what, but it set the tone for the entire game. Just look at the first handful of possessions

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Heading into this game, I think most people wanted to see Kornet get the start given what he did in Game 5, but I think it's fair to suggest that what we saw to start this game was nowhere near that level. He kept fumbling lobs, the rebounding and rim protection weren't there, and there's a case to be made that the decision to go double bigs to start this game was not the right plan. In fact, the double big lineups were a disaster for most of this series. 

The Jrue/White/Brown/Horford/Kornet lineup like we saw start Game 6 for the entire series:

88 ORTG / 137 DRTG / -48 net rating / 44% TS%

If you think things were any better with KP instead of Kornet, I have bad news

73 ORTG / 140 DRTG / -67 net rating / 49% TS%

As you can see, the double big lineup no matter which combo they used, was horrific. If you're going to play double bigs, that means at the bare minimum, you HAVE TO control the glass. Well, how do we think that went last night? Here's the answer. It was horrible.

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The worst part is even when Joe was quick to make the switch and get out of that lineup early in the 1st quarter after their stagnant start, almost immediately we saw the Knicks feast on the glass and start racking up big momentum 2nd chance points. In the 1st quarter alone, the Knicks had 5 OREB / 11 2nd chance points. It's exactly how they were able to get the crowd into the game, and the exact way you cannot play if you are looking to keep your season alive. What good is forcing a miss if you can't rebound? Not putting together clean defensive possessions is the truest sign of losing basketball, and that's exactly what we saw early

By the end of things, between the OREB/2nd chance points and turnovers, it's just too much to overcome. Per the legend Dick Lipe, we haven't seen something like this all in one game since 1997. For those not great at math, it's 2025

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- This is what I mean when I say the Knicks played winning basketball. They made the energy and effort plays, even in the portions of this game that were a blowout. Tell me this play doesn't sum things up perfectly?

You tell me which team looked like the one who wanted this win more? This is why I think anyone who refuses to acknowledge and properly give the Knicks credit for this game and this series is just in denial. They were quicker to the ball, they were better on the boards, they forced the Celtics into mistakes and then they capitalized on all of it. 

In playoff basketball, you get what you deserve. That's how it works.

- So much is often made about the Celts offensive approach and blah blah blah. Almost always, you only hear these people talk about the 3P volume and 3PT production. For some reason, they do not want to tell the whole story. The Celtics issues in this series go well beyond their 3P approach. All you had to do was look at how this game went.

Let's go by quarter. To start, this was their paint/rim production

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5-14 on 2pt FGA in the first 12 minutes. A solid 35%. Even still, the Celts were attached at 26-20.

OK, now the 2nd quarter

This was when the 3P production fell off a cliff, and sadly, there was not enough efficient 2FG to make up for the difference. All in all, in the first half, the Celts were 10-23 on 2s and 4-20 on 3s. At the end of the day, it's about execution

How about the 3rd quarter? The three point shooting came back which was great, but once again, the paint production was nowhere to be found

from there, the game was over.

For the series, the Celtics finished shooting just 68% at the rim, 23% in the paint (non-RA), and 39% from midrange. AS A TEAM.

This idea that the Celts did nothing but jack up 3s? False. A stupid and lazy narrative that, for whatever reason, people can't avoid. In reality? The Celtics had 42 drives last night, their highest total of the series. The result? 8-23 shooting (34.8%) with a 9.5% TOV% and 0 FTA.

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- I know it's not totally fair given his illness, but it really is shocking how much of a non-factor KP turned into over the course of a week. The whole point of trading for him was that he could diversify the offense and help break the team out of scoring droughts while also providing rebounding and elite rim protection. To say we got none of that at any point in this series would be the understatement of the century.

Just look at the difference a week made between ORL and NYK series

Part of why I don't think you can blame this all on the illness is that to me, it was also a decision making problem. I don't see how a possession like this is a result of his mystery illness

That's just bad basketball. Jaylen has position on Brunson with no help. KP hasn't made a single shot outside of the restricted area all series at the time of that possession, so what is the thought process here? A contested 2FGA over OG Anunoby compared to a Jaylen Brown post up over a guard with no help cannot be the decision in that spot.

So I get it, the illness obviously fucked him up and killed his conditioning, but it does not absolve him of poor decision making and trying to force offense when he clearly didn't have it all series. 

It's just unfortunate that the very things KP was brought in to do, and things that ultimately would have been the difference in this series, he was simply unable to do at any point over the course of the 6 games. I mean, he made 6 total shots! I don't think he beat a single switch all playoffs long in either series, which is a problem considering he was brought in to punish switches!

In the end, he's played 17 playoff games as a Celtic and averaged 8 points on 32/12% splits. He's had probably 1 good half as a Celtic in the playoffs, and that's not even factoring all this injury/availability issues. I'm sorry, but that's not good enough.

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When he's healthy and his normal self? We saw what an incredible impact that makes. But this version? While also not having Tatum available? Brutal.

- It's legitimately shocking just how poor the Celts were in their losses. You want to talk about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? How else would you explain this?

Poor defense, poor shooting, turnover issues, you're not going to win playoff series when you have that type of showing in 4 of the 6 games. The Celts hit every single one of the Pillars of Playoff Pain in last night's loss, so it should surprise nobody that this was the outcome.

Poor outside shooting, poor defensive rebounding/2nd chance points, high TOs/points allowed off TOs. 

You can survive one of those things, maybe two of them if Tatum is playing, but to get all 3 is a death sentence. It's been that way since 2020 through 3 different coaches and multiple versions of the roster.

- While he was the only one to show up early, we can't just pretend as if Jaylen's 7 TOs didn't happen. Even if you want to say that two of his offensive foul turnovers were bullshit and the kick ball TO should have been called, that's not really the point. It felt like Jaylen played too often in a way that gets him into trouble. Trying to do too much and force things when there's really no need to force the issue. A few of his decisions in this regard stood out to me

I can understand wanting to push the ball here and not let the Knicks set their defense considering how poor the Celts halfcourt offense was, but this is one of those decision-making errors that he avoided in Game 5, but couldn't stop making in Game 6. It was pretty clear once he got to the hashmark that there was no advantage, not to mention it's OG who he's attacking, who is by far the best Knicks defender. There's nothing wrong with bailing on forcing the issue and making sure you value the possession. Given it's the end of the quarter, these are the high-leverage possessions you need to maximize. Instead, we got the opposite.

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It also didn't help that White also turned it over on the very next possession doing the same type of thing by forcing things offensively, which led by back to back Knicks buckets.

Basketball is a funny game because, really, it can all come down to something as small as a pass not being on target. This brutal turnover? It all stems from a pass from Jrue that isn't quite on target and forces Jaylen to reload. That prevents him from going right into his shot and allows Mitchell to recover, which causes a turnover in a brutal spot

Why Joe or Jaylen didn't just call a timeout here is something I'll never understand, considering they called it on the very next possession after the Knicks scored. That's a mental error by both in that spot in my opinion. 

On this one, I can't help but be frustrated because normally, this should be a C&S 3PA. Instead, Jaylen did what idiots demand the Celts do and pass up an open 3 to drive into traffic to take a 2FGA. This, is why that's always going to be a bad idea

I get it, there's no rim protection the second he catches the ball, even though KAT is starting to shade to the rim. Bridges is playing the passing lane between Jaylen and Al, but this is what I mean when I say it's an example of Jaylen trying to do too much. Just take the 3PA and let Jrue crash from the weakside. 

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Instead, he chose to drive through traffic, the ball got tipped and it was another brutal turnover. AKA, trying to do too much rather than just making the simple play.

The Ugly

- I'm not sure we've ever seen the guard trio of Jrue/White/Pritchard play as poorly all in the same game as we saw in Game 6. We knew it was going to have to be a collective effort, and their lack of production/TOs was simply too costly. They started 1-18 (0-10), with Jrue giving you CTE ball early, Derrick playing maybe his worst game of the season, and Pritchard unable to make a single open 3PA. Through 3 quarters, I'm not sure we've ever seen them all be so ineffective and do more harm than good

7-26 (2-13)…just 26.9/15% from those 3 guys is just absolutely killer. A combined -98 in their minutes. MINUS 98.

Add in the fact that Hauser was just as much of a non-factor, and the "others" who were so good in Game 5, laid a gigantic collective egg in Game 6. It should be no surprise they got dick stomped as a result of that. You needed something from that group and you got nothing, and now your season is over.

- Fuck every single person, both in media, on social media, and life in general who ever uttered the words

"The Celtics offense actually looks and flows so much better without Jayson Tatum"

It's all we heard after Game 5. Easily one of the most moronic statements in the history of statements. The worst part? We even heard it from Boston media, who were serious! It's not just idiot hot-take artists on national networks. People who watch this team were the ones saying it. How fucking braindead can you be? 

The difference? Shot making. In Game 5, the ball went in, so people took that as the "Celtics ball movement and offensive flow" being better. No idiots, guys just hit open shots. Last night, those shots didn't go in, but they made more passes than Game 5. Get it yet? In Game 5, the Celts finished with 52 potential assists and 27 actual AST. Last night? 41 potential assists and only 19 AST. 

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Things "didn't look better" without Tatum in Game 5. The team simply made open looks. Once that shotmaking went away, how did things look? 

So now, we enter one of the most up in the air offseasons in recent memory. What Brad Stevens ends up doing is anyone's guess, but it's safe to say that changes are on the horizon, and we're not talking about small ones around the margins. Starter/rotation players are most likely going to be moved. We all have to pray that Al Horford chooses not to retire and comes back on a minimum while also praying nobody dumps MLE money at Kornet in free agency. 

This version of the Celts as we know them, is over. Thankful they got to the top of the mountain and it was one of the most dominant Celtics teams I've ever seen in my lifetime, but now it's time to pivot and retool while we all wait for Jayson Tatum's eventual return in 2026-2027. What that looks like, is anyone's guess.