5 Reasons the Boston Celtics Keep Choking vs. New York Knicks

The Boston Celtics entered their Eastern Conference semifinal against the New York Knicks as overwhelming favorites to advance.

In each of the first two games of the series, the Celtics led by at least 20. Both contests were in Boston. And somehow, after the Knicks stormed all the way back to win 91-90 on Wednesday, the underdog is up 2-0.

So, why are the Celtics coughing up these massive leads to New York?

We'll look at the five biggest reasons below.

Boston's Too Committed to Three-Point Volume

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This isn't a call for Boston to drastically reduce its three-point volume. That would be silly. It's one of the primary reasons the Celtics won the title and were generally dominant in 2024-25.

But in Game 1 of this series, they missed an NBA-record 45 triples. In Game 2, they went 10-of-40. And though plenty of those looks were open, some were also the result of settling. Settling is not a good way to get out of a slump.

Instead, when the threes aren't falling, Boston has to be willing and able to attack the paint. And not every attack has to end with a kickout to the perimeter.

Particularly when Karl-Anthony Towns is at the 5 and Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby are at the 3/4, the Celtics should, at least occasionally, look to ram the ball through the hoop inside.

That doesn't have to mean old-school post-ups, either. Slashing, attacking the offensive glass and interior passing can pull the defense inward, too.

And once they start converting a bit more inside, it will be tougher for the Knicks to commit to stopping the three. In basketball, balance is good.

Kristaps Porziņģis Isn't Right

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The numbers don't necessarily back this up. Over the course of his two seasons with the Celtics, the team's point differential is actually a bit worse when he's on the floor.

But when Kristaps Porziņģis is unavailable or not right, it feels like some pretty important elements of their game are missing.

And at the moment, he's simply not right.

The 29-year-old suffered with a viral illness in February and March that caused him to miss eight straight games. And in Game 1, illness forced him out of action after just 13 minutes. He came off the bench Wednesday, but he only managed 14 more.

Without Porziņģis' outside shooting, the Knicks bigs are a little more comfortable crowding the paint, but that's not all he provides offensively. He's often the pressure point inside the three-point line, too. When he catches at the high post, defenses often collapse, creating openings on the perimeter for his teammates.

Of course, he also provides a significant interior presence and some shot-blocking on the defensive end, too.

And if the Celtics aren't able to play Porziņģis anywhere near his typical, healthy minutes load, it's hard to imagine them winning four of the next five games.

Derrick White and Jrue Holiday Have to Be Better on Defense...

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As is the case with the three-point volume, it's pretty widely known that one of the driving forces behind Boston's success over the last two years is the perimeter defense of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.

And while those two have contributed to Jalen Brunson being just 15-of-42 from the field, they also haven't been able to shut him down in the clutch.

Brunson has 46 points in this series, and nearly a third of them (or 14, to be exact) have come in the 12 clutch minutes he's played.

When the game is within five in the final five minutes, Brunson (who won Clutch Player of the Year) has found ways to simply will the ball into the basket.

White and Holiday have to find more effective ways to intervene.

...And Jayson Tatum Has to Be Better Everywhere

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In the next few weeks, Jayson Tatum is likely to be named first-team All-NBA for a fourth straight season. He entered this series as its presumed best player.

Through two games, the 27-year-old has 36 points on 42 shots. That's one fewer than Josh Hart, one more than Karl-Anthony Towns and two more than OG Anunoby.

In Wednesday's fourth-quarter meltdown, Tatum was 1-of-5 from the field and 0-of-2 from deep.

Porziņģis (eight points on nine shots while dealing with illness) and Jaylen Brown (43 points on 43 shots while dealing with a knee injury) have reasonable excuses for their struggles.

Tatum doesn't.

And while his substandard play hasn't prevented Boston from building big leads in each of the first two games, it also hasn't helped when those leads have evaporated.

Particularly when these games tighten up, Tatum simply has to be better. That will require much more aggression as a driver, much more decisiveness as a ball-handler and far less settling overall.

The Knicks

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There's plenty to point to on the Boston side of this story, but there's always two teams involved in a choke job. And the Knicks have had plenty to do with the Celtics' collapses in Games 1 and 2.

When forced into desperation, New York's defense has tightened up to a seemingly impossible degree. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby have more than neutralized Tatum and Brown.

The bigs have had their moments, too. Karl-Anthony Towns has hit big shots, and Mitchell Robinson is a team-high plus-32 in just 43 minutes.

Josh Hart is more than filling gaps. He's second on the team in total points, second in rebounds and third in assists.

And of course, Jalen Brunson has been delivering in the games' highest-leverage moments, as he typically did throughout 2024-25.

The Celtics deserve plenty of credit for blowing their leads in this series, but certainly not all of it.