Knicks forward Mikal Bridges ripped the ball away in the final seconds and flung it skyward, a soaring exclamation point on a puzzling night at the Garden.
No question was bigger than this: how the hell did that just happen?
The Celtics collapsed into a 108-105 puddle Monday night, opening an Eastern Conference semifinal series most comfortably predicted they would seal in five games with a 1-0 deficit.
After all, the Celtics had cruised to a 4-0 regular-season sweep of the Knicks, who had struggled with a determined, but young and flawed Pistons team last round.
Then, the Celtics led by 20 midway through the third quarter. No Kristaps Porzingis, no Sam Hauser, no problems whatsoever. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took turns poking the permanent holes in New York’s defense, hitting the same shots and notes from past matchups.
Then, in almost every moment before Bridges stole the ball from Brown, the Celtics gave that game away.
They set the record for most missed 3-pointers in a playoff game before they reached overtime and continued to chuck even when it was clear neither Tatum nor Brown had their shooting touch. They combined to go 5-of-25 from 3-point range. Tatum played like he had burned his fingertips during a timeout.
Still, he kept firing, step-back after step-back. Clang, clang, clang.
The Celtics laid enough bricks to build a bridge down to Madison Square Garden, where they must now win at least one game if they want to take this series back. They have invited disaster to their doorstep, and disaster walked right on through Monday.
Because all along, the Knicks have had a few narrow paths to make the series interesting, let alone steal a couple games.
No. 1: out-shoot the Celtics as the lesser-shooting team. That long shot hit Monday, despite a terrible game from Karl Anthony-Towns, the self-appointed best-shooting big man in NBA history. Towns has a history of mind-boggling fouls in the playoffs, and picked up three fouls in 15 minutes Monday night. He finished with 14 points.
No. 2: win the possession game. Pile up offensive rebounds and force turnovers to generate extra shots. That missed because while Knicks center Mitchell Robinson is a monster on the glass, he’s also a monster at the foul line. The Celtics hacked at Robinson in the second quarter, and his 3-of-10 foul shooting became so painful his own coach asked him to intentionally foul in the second quarter so the Knicks could sub him out.
That actually happened.
No. 3: pray for favorable injury luck. Porzingis didn’t play in the second half due to illness, which may have contributed to another ice-cold start. Porzingis might return, he might not, and it may not have mattered were it not for Monday’s upset. Now, of course, it does.
So here the Celtics are, trailing 1-0 to a Knicks team that has been lesser than the sum of its parts all season. This is a rare Tom Thibodeau-coached team that doesn’t resemble the barking, sweating, defensive coach prowling on the sidelines. The Knicks are not soft, but any fear of them does not stem from the cold, hard reality of their roster.
Because in assembling a team built to beat the Celtics last summer – shipping out a boatload of picks for Bridges and acquiring Towns in a tectonic shift for the franchise – the Knicks left themselves more vulnerable to Boston than expected. Unless Towns and Brunson are off the floor, sapping most of their offensive firepower, the mismatch-minded Celtics will always have defensive scab to pick at.
And they wasted no time in Game 1.
The Celtics played Towns off the floor within six minutes. Towns hit the bench with Josh Hart, one of the Knicks’ iron men who bent against a fiery Tatum start that included 13 points in the first quarter. Towns picked up his third foul just moments into the second quarter thanks to a Jaylen Brown drive.
Brown then took aim at Brunson, cashing in for a layup, two foul shots and a mid-range jumper all at the point guard’s expense. The Celtics cruised to a 16-point halftime lead.
The Knicks took multiple leads the fourth quarter, riding an 8-0 run fueled by bad Celtics shooting and choices. Brown went ice cold, Tatum even colder and the bench was dry. No one changed course.
The Celtics fired again and again from deep with shots that felt less like a plan and increasingly like hope.
Meanwhile, Brunson charged the Knicks back to a lead, and Bridges defended it down to the bitter end in a finish no one could have expected.
Now the Celtics sit a mess of their own making, with less than two days before Game 2 and a chance to wipe it away.
Originally Published: May 5, 2025 at 10:17 PM EDT
