The Knicks advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the third straight season behind Jalen Brunson’s magnificent 40-point performance and series-clinching three in Game 6 over the Pistons in Detroit.
While the performance and the shot were deserved causes for celebration, the team will have to quickly shift their focus from last series to this one, facing the defending champion Boston Celtics. This will be the toughest test the Knicks face this season and perhaps the toughest they have faced in the entire Tom Thibodeau era.
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The Celtics won 61 games this year with a top-five offense and defense, going 4-0 against the Knicks by a combined 65-point margin, and come into the series as heavy favorites.
Can Brunson and New York find a way to pull off the upset? Let’s dive in…
Little went right against Boston during the regular season, with the Knicks struggling on offense and giving the Celtics whatever they wanted on the other end. The focus for New York should be playing their peak basketball in every facet instead of hyper focusing on parts of their game — unfortunately, we didn’t see much of that in the first round.
Though the Knicks won in six games, it was by a total margin of nine points, with New York regularly trailing and looking lost for entire quarters and halves in a series that was way too close.
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New York often displayed a lack of preparation and purpose, especially offensively, where they scored 109.8 points per 100 possessions, which would’ve ranked bottom-10 in the regular season and was comparable to the Bucks and Lakers’ lackluster scoring this postseason.
Slowing the game down to a 1990s bricklaying, mud-throwing slugfest would be a logical approach to this Boston series after Orlando seemed to bother them a bit with that style, but New York will still need a better offensive showing to stand any chance.
York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) dribbles in the first half against the Detroit Pistons during game six of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
The Celtics’ approach shouldn’t surprise: expect a wing on Karl-Anthony Towns so their big can float off Josh Hart.
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This will give the Knicks any matchup they want — it’s on them to take advantage. Look for early post-ups and cross screens to get there for Towns, who took advantage of this scheme to some success in previous meetings and the Detroit series.
Playoff Brunson is real, and unstoppable, so he should switch hunt for whoever he prefers. Boston’s bigs Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford, and their defensive wings Derrick White and Jaylen Brown offer the biggest strength and speed advantages, respectively.
But this isn’t the Pistons, and the Knicks cannot talent their way to a winning offense. They’ll need to be much more pointed in getting wings Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby aggressive looks against the smaller Boston guards, and getting Hart involved in so much movement and action that the Celtics either get burned hiding a big on him or switch things up.
Someone who needs a big series is Miles McBride, who had a huge postseason in 2024 and heightened expectations coming into this season, but struggled through injuries and had a rough first round against Detroit. The Knicks don’t need him to create beyond his means, but he needs much more confidence in his shooting and to step up with some big games if the Knicks want any chance — as they aren’t getting much else off their bench.
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Defensively, expect Brunson and Towns to be tested every possession. That was essentially Boston’s approach in the regular season, and Detroit had lots of good looks attacking those two as well.
Drop coverage is essentially a no-go unless the Knicks want to allow Towns to guard a bunch of elite scorers heading downhill on an island, or give up a bunch of pick-and-pop threes to Porzingis at the top of the key. New York largely abandoned it last series unless Mitchell Robinson was on the floor, so expect a similar approach here.
This series should be more of a switching one for New York. They tried it the last two games against Boston, and though it comes with weaknesses of its own, it seems like the best path to getting the Celtics out of their offensive rhythm.
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates a three point basket in the first half against the Detroit Pistons during game three of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena / Rick Osentoski – Imagn Images
If Jayson Tatum wants to spend a game isolating Brunson and Towns after getting them screened onto him, why not let him? Pushing him towards a bunch of contested mid-range fallaways and one-on-one drives against a surprisingly mobile seven-footer, even if it’s en route to 40 points, seems preferable to getting in a blender that leads to a bunch of open threes that the Celtics thrive on.
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The Knicks will have to be extremely on point with their rotations and communication. One slip-up or drive-by and the Celtics machine gets churning, their positioning and passing baked in over two seasons together to the point of being nearly automatic.
When New York eventually does get to scrambling, they should prioritize running shooters off the arc, making Boston finish from the mid-range and around the rim. Even if they score efficiently, making them play more in the paint, more physically, and steering them away from their preferred opportunities could pay dividends later in the series.
The Knicks will need masterful individual defensive performances out of Anunoby and Bridges, who brought it against Cade Cunningham and will need to do the same against Tatum and Brown. Brunson and Towns have to be as sharp as ever as the weak points in the defense that Boston will attack.
But the biggest swing factor will likely be the accumulated smaller parts of the game. Half of the Celtics’ game is letting you beat yourself. They don’t turn the ball over, they defend hard and do well on the defensive glass, and generate enough efficient looks that even a rough shooting night won’t take away too much from their point totals.
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The Knicks will need championship poise to counter this — limited giveaways, domination on both sides of the glass, and a defensive focus on getting Boston away from their ideal looks. Put simply, it won’t take many of these unfocused, sloppy stretches we saw in the Detroit series to give this Boston team 20-point leads that New York would struggle to overcome.
But the Knicks can beat this team. They have the talent, the toughness, and most importantly, Brunson.
Unfortunately, the cracks that formed in the regular season seemed to have been exposed, if not worsened, in a first round that looked way too difficult for them. That doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence, so barring a major in-series leap from this Knicks team, we’re taking the Celtics in five games.
