The Knicks aren’t hiding from the reality that they are in for a very different and even more daunting challenge in the second round of the playoffs than the six-game battle they just gutted out and survived against Detroit.
“They are the defending [NBA] champs for a reason,” Karl-Anthony Towns said after practice Saturday about the Celtics.
Indeed, Boston mostly dominated the season series between the teams, taking the first three games by a combined 63 points before pulling out an overtime victory in April to complete a thorough four-game sweep.
Those records, of course, are wiped clean once a playoff series commences, with this one set to tip off Monday night at TD Garden, where the Knicks’ season began with a blowout loss in which the Celtics matched an NBA record with 29 made 3-pointers after a pregame ceremony to receive their rings and raise their 2024 championship banner.
With both teams playing their full complement of rotation players on April 8 at the Garden, the Knicks held a late three-point lead but failed to foul and allowed Jayson Tatum to tie the score with three seconds left in the fourth quarter before the Celtics prevailed in OT.
“Obviously, [we have to] play better than we did [against them] throughout the regular season,” Jalen Brunson said. “Be better, ready to do it from the jump, knowing it’s going to be a game of runs, knowing that they’re capable of doing a lot of great things.
“I feel like we played better in that [fourth] game. We adjusted from the first three times we played them, obviously still not getting it done, but definitely played better and competed better than the first three games. So that’s something we can look at and build off of.”
Brunson, who already has a Nike billboard hanging outside MSG depicting his series-clinching 3-pointer in Game 6 on Thursday night against the Pistons, said the Knicks used Friday’s day off “to decompress, rest and get your mind ready for the next challenge.”
Tatum, fellow All-Star Jaylen Brown, former Knicks unicorn Kristaps Porzingis and the rest of the loaded and battle-tested Celtics pose the next impediment as Tom Thibodeau’s team looks to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000 after two consecutive second-round heartbreakers against Miami and Indiana.
Brunson said the Knicks’ heavy-underdog status in this series “is what it is.”
The reigning champs closed the regular season on a 19-3 roll and then dispatched the Magic in five games in the opening round.
The Knicks had their hands full as it was with dynamic Cade Cunningham and the rumbling Pistons, but the Celtics are far more experienced, poised and talented overall, boasting an array of dogged defenders and capable 3-point shooters under coach Joe Mazzulla.
“They found a formula that works for them, it’s worked against the whole entire league, got them a chip,” Towns said. “We just gotta go out there, execute and stay disciplined.
“If we execute the way I know we can, play basketball the way I know we can, we’ll give ourselves a chance every night.”
Strong defensive play on the perimeter, especially from OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges on Tatum and Brown, once again will be a key for the Knicks to be competitive.
Interestingly, the Celtics only averaged 31.2 attempts from 3-point distance against the Magic after leading the league at 48.2 per game during the regular season.
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“Of course, you want to limit their 3-point attempts. It’s easier said than done,” Towns said. “You gotta go out there and make it happen. You can’t just talk about it.”
Just as the time to talk about the first round is over, though pulling out so many close games in the series against the Pistons clearly has had a galvanizing effect on the Knicks as they move forward.
“I feel like when you are going through a season and have different ups and downs and you go through a lot of things, it tends to bring a team together,” Brunson said. “Regardless of how we won [the Detroit] series, we are moving on and we’re getting better and we have another chance to continue to get better.”