After Saturday afternoon's rather underwhelming effort by the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the prevailing sentiment by the "experts" was that even though the Boston Celtics still trailed 2-1, they had taken control of the series and were now favored to wrap it up in six.
There was only one small problem: the Knicks never got the memo. They came out Monday night with their best performance of the postseason, beating the Celtics 121-113 to take a 3-1 lead and a stranglehold on the series.
Indeed, except for the last minute and a half of the first quarter in which the Celtics hit four consecutive three-pointers to take a 39-28 lead, the Knicks were the better team on the court for most of the night. Unlike the first two games in Boston, the men in orange and blue did not wait for the fourth quarter to mount their comeback. They began it with 9:05 left in the third, trailing 72-58.
And just as he has done throughout these playoffs, Jalen Brunson led the way for his teammates. He scored 26 points in the second half, 18 in the third quarter. Overall he finished with 39 for the Knicks. But he was not the only hero for the home team. OG Anunoby (20), Mikal Bridges (23) and Karl-Anthony Towns (23) each answered the bell, as well. It was, by far, the most balanced scoring attack the Knicks have had in this series. New York outscored Boston 70-51 in the second half.
To paraphrase Jerry Garcia, what a long, strange series it's been. In each of the first four games, the Celtics have had a double-digit lead in the third quarter, and in three of those four games, the Knicks came from behind to win. And the culprit in each of those Boston losses was their poor shooting performance from three-point range.
In games one and two, the Celtics shot a collective 25-100 (25 percent) from beyond the arc; in game three, they were 20-40 (50 percent) from downtown; and in game four, they went 12-24 (50 percent) from three in the first half, but only 6-24 (25 percent) in the second half.
Put succinctly, when the Celtics hit their threes, they win; when they don't, they lose. There's no Plan B. Boston's inability, or unwillingness, to make in-game adjustments has been its biggest problem in this series. In short, their arrogance has been their own worst enemy. And now the Knicks, who entered this series as heavy underdogs, and were 1-11 during the regular season against teams ahead of them in the standings, are one win away from their first conference finals appearance since 2000.
And without Jayson Tatum, who suffered a season-ending Achilles injury late in the fourth quarter, the chances of Boston mounting its own comeback and preventing that from happening is about as remote as a leopard changing its stripes. All season long, the Celtics have lived by the three and now they seem determined to die by it.
Which is just fine for a fanbase that has waited 52 years to celebrate a championship. And here's the best thing: should the Knicks and the Indiana Pacers advance - both teams lead their respective series 3-1 - New York would have the home court advantage.
The lion's share of the credit for this metamorphosis goes to Tom Thibodeau. He has badly out-coached his counterpart, Joe Mazzulla in this series. He has made the necessary adjustments that have put the Knicks in position to capitalize on the Celtics shortcomings.
Case in point, the way he's handled Mitchell Robinson. The backup center is a plus 35 over the four games against Boston, but his liability at the free-throw line has been a big concern for the Knicks. However, rather than bench him, Thibs continues to play him, which has forced Mazzulla to foul him and, as a result, put the Celtics in the bonus earlier than he would prefer. Who'd have thunk that the Knicks of all teams would be winning the battle of coaching?
Bottom line: the Knicks are making believers out of non-believers; they are playing clutch basketball; their best players have been better than the Celtics best players; and they are almost halfway through this most improbable journey.
A journey whose final destination has yet to be determined.
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