A late surge by the Knicks overturned a 20-point deficit and shocked the heavily-favored Celtics in Boston for a massive 108-105 overtime win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Jalen Brunson proved why he was named the 2025 Clutch Player of the Year once again by knocking down multiple three-pointers in the fourth quarter to bring the Knicks back from the depths of defeat. He scored 11 of his 29 points in the fourth, as the pick-and-roll game left Al Horford out on an island against the shifty Brunson.
“I thought it was a great team win,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. “We started well, then we fell into a hole, then we fought our way out, and then we made tough plays down the stretch.”
Mikal Bridges played 51 out of the possible 53 game minutes, and he locked things up defensively. In overtime, Bridges made an acrobatic defensive play to save a loose ball going out of bounds and passed it up the court to OG Anunoby, who stuffed it home to give the Knicks a 102-100 lead.
He then wrenched the ball away from Jaylen Brown on the Celtics’ final possession of the game as time expired in overtime to preserve the three-point win.
“Mikal came up with some big-time rebounds in traffic and then the steal at the end,” Thibodeau said. “Those are big-time plays, toughness plays.”
The Celtics shot 36.9% from behind the arc in the regular season (T-No. 9) and 37.8% in the playoffs (No.5). In Game 1, they missed 45 three-point attempts, as they shot 15-60 (25%). One of the negatives for the Knicks this season was three-point defense. They locked up Jason Tatum and co. from three-point land when it mattered most.
Boston led by as much as 20 with 6:47 to go in the third quarter. From the 8:38-minute mark in the second quarter, the Celtics either led or were tied with New York until the Knicks took a 94-91 lead with 4:07 left in the fourth.
“This team has fought all year, it’s been a pretty good road team,” Thibodeau said. “We’ve had to endure some things with guys being out and I think over time that helps you. You build up your mental toughness and understanding how important that is. It’s one game, there’s a lot of emotional highs and lows in a playoff, but no matter what happens, you have to keep moving forward.”
On the inbound with five seconds to go in the final frame, Brunson inbounded the ball to Karl-Anthony Towns, who passed it back to Brunson on the backdoor cut. With his strong hand, Brunson comes up short on the potential game-winning layup, forcing overtime in Boston.
Even though the Knicks came out victorious, they committed 13 fouls in the first half and 19 total. Boston went 22-of-26 from the free-throw line, but New York had plenty of their own opportunities from the charity stripe and didn’t take advantage. New York went 17-3 from the line, with Mitchell Robinson going three-of-10.
Whenever Robinson touched the ball in the paint, the Celtics collapsed, got physical, and fouled him, forcing him to make free throws to beat them.
Anunoby took over the second half, turning defense into offense by pouring in 29 points. Josh Hart put together a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double, and while it wasn’t Towns’ night, he played a huge role on the glass, grabbing 13 boards.
“OG was terrific the whole game … The thing I don’t want to overlook is Josh was terrific, also, but KAT had foul trouble,” Thibodeau said. “But the rebounding and making tough plays at the end, that was huge for us. He helped us win and that’s the most important thing.”
It wasn’t Tatum’s night, as he shot 7-of-23 from the field and four-of-15 from three, despite pouring in 23 and snagging 16 rebounds.
The last three NBA Champions lost the following year in their conference’s semifinals. The Milwaukee Bucks in 2022, Golden State Warriors in 2023, the Denver Nuggets in 2024 and with Boston dropping Game 1 at home, they might be next in 2025.
Winning Game 1 in Boston was a huge momentum shift. The Celtics, who completed the gentleman’s sweep over the Orlando Magic in the first round, hadn’t felt much pressure this postseason. The Knicks went into TD Garden and stunned more than 19,000 Celtics fans.
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