Mazz: The Celtics, the Knicks and the blueprint to beat Boston in the playoffs

The New York Knicks, it seems, have the blueprint to defeat the Boston Celtics. But before we give the Knicks too much credit, let's all agree on something: so does everybody else.

And so, before we delve into the developments in Round 2 of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, let's start with a simple question: should you be surprised by this?

Well, yes.

And no.

First, the yes part. For the second game in a row, the Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit on Boston's home floor at TD Garden last night and defeated the Celtics to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the teams' best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series. Coming back to win from 20-point deficits in two consecutive games has never happened in the playoffs before - by anyone, against anyone - so any person who tells you that there is some sort of precedent for this is, well, delusional.

But the part about the Celtics wilting under pressure? Well, that is the no. In fact, the Celtics seem terribly familiar in this series, looking very much like the team that, in recent years, has struggled against the Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, even the Orlando Magic. Like many high-flying offenses throughout history - in any sport - the Celtics have been stripped of space in this series, which is to say they look uncomfortable. The result is a succession of long-range misses and turnovers, the two familiar components of Boston's breakdowns in previous seasons.

In 2021-22, for example, the Celtics actually defeated the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference championship series, but it never should have been that close. The Celtics won by the narrowest of margins - Jimmy Butler's game-winning 3-point attempt fell just short, remember - and the Celtics advanced to their first Finals appearance with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The common denominator of Boston's near-breakdown against Miami? Turnovers. Boston turned the ball over 54 times in its three losses against the Heat, an average of 18 per game.

OK, so the Celtics won that series. But in the next round - the Finals against Golden State - Boston turned the ball over an incredible 97 times in six games, an average of 16.2 per game for the series. The number in the losses was 72, an average of 18 per game. Know what your memory of that series should be? Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum (especially) putting the ball on the floor and dribbling into double teams, only to get stripped. The Celtics' inability to deal with the pressure - on the ball or otherwise - did them in.

Now, let's jump ahead to the 2022-23 season, when Boston lost to the same Miami team in the conference finals. The Celtics weren't quite as sloppy with the ball this time around, but their 3-point shooting did them in. In three of the Celtics' four losses, Boston shot 28.6, 26.2 and 21.4 percent from distance. The Heat won the series in seven games after Tatum rolled an ankle at the beginning of the series, but only after Miami had jumped to a commanding 3-0 series lead. The Celtics' continued inability to play a half-court game without turning it over and/or relying on the 3-pointer was their true undoing.

Now here we are, one year after the Celtics won the championship with a perfectly-paved, azalea-decorated path through a succession of low seeds, and the same is happening. Orlando mucked it up with the Celtics and made most of the games (if not the series) competitive. The Magic just lacked the offensive talent to make the Celtics pay at the other end of the floor. The Celtics often looked just as out of place as they did in their prior years' losses.

Then came the Knicks, who are (somewhat surprisingly) effectively muddying the game with physicality and ball pressure while possessing better offensive weapons. Once again, the Celtics' high-flying offense has been neutered, thus the 2-0 series lead for New York.

Look, I'm no basketball tactician. But we can all see the general plan here. Playing an open-court, up-and-down game with the Celtics (as the Knicks did during an 0-4 regular season against Boston) is futile; the Celtics simply possess too much offensive firepower. But if you can much the game up and keep it close - take away the 3-pointer, make the game physical, limit open space - the end of the game changes. Then you pressure the ball and get the Celtics to put the ball on the floor - and take your chances.

Is this series over? No.

But the Celtics had better find a way to deal with the muck-and-grind coming at them in Games 3 and 4 in New York on Saturday and Monday.

And if they don't? They will have an entire, open summer to figure it out.