BOSTON — One after the other, Celtics photographs clanged across the rim.
With every miss, the Knicks clawed slightly bit nearer.
The Celtics missed a staggering 14 straight discipline aim makes an attempt within the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ 91-90 Recreation 2 win Wednesday evening at TD Backyard.
Boston solely scored 17 factors within the quarter.
They appeared removed from defending champions amid an epic meltdown.
“I thought in the fourth quarter, our defense was outstanding,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau mentioned. “That’s what we need to do for the entire game. … People always talk about offensive runs. I think you go on defensive runs as well.”
OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges — dubbed “Wingstop” resulting from them being the Knicks defensive stoppers towards opposing wings — have been behind a lot of that defensive enchancment late.
Jaylen Brown, after scoring 20 factors by means of three quarters, went scoreless within the fourth quarter and missed all 4 photographs he took.
Jayson Tatum completed with simply 13 factors on brutal 5-for-19 capturing from the sphere.
And Anunoby and Bridges mixed to seal the sport — Anunoby helped on Tatum after he had gotten by Mitchell Robinson earlier than Bridges stole his move within the closing seconds.
“They made every play,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned of the Knicks. “Throughout the end of that fourth quarter, I thought we generated some good looks. Then, I thought we had some live-ball turnovers and they took advantage of it. They made the necessary plays to win.”
It’s uncommon to see a championship-caliber crew just like the Celtics unravel in such dramatic trend.
For it to occur in two straight video games is difficult to imagine.
Can the Knicks really feel when the Celtics start to disintegrate?
“To be realistic, that doesn’t come to mind,” Josh Hart mentioned. “Our biggest thing is, especially when you’re going on a run, is ‘all right, let’s get a stop.’ We get a stop, ‘let’s get another stop.’ We got guys that can score the ball. We’re down that much, we’re thinking about ‘let’s get this down to a one-possession game towards the end of the game.’ I feel like our defensive intensity picked up in the fourth quarter. Now we have to learn from it and Saturday, put together a full game.”
