The New York Knicks’ reward for squeaking past the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs is a tilt with the defending champion Boston Celtics — a team that has provided nightmares for Tom Thibodeau and Co. this season.
Getting to this point is the bare minimum for a Knicks team of this caliber, though they come in as heavy underdogs against their Atlantic Division rivals. It also does not help prognostications that each of New York’s previous two seasons ended at this Eastern Conference semifinal stage.
A major upset would not only help reassert Thibodeau’s job security as head coach but also provide the Knicks with their first Eastern Conference Final appearance in 25 years. That, of course, is as astronomical an “if” as there is, considering just how good this Celtics team is. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers won more games than Boston, which is as battle-tested as anyone in the playoffs. The Celtics have been in the NBA Finals in two of the last three years and made the conference final in the other season they didn’t.
Knicks vs. Celtics 2nd-round schedule
- Game 1 @ Celtics: Monday, May 5, 7 p.m. ET (TNT)
- Game 2 @ Celtics: Wednesday, May 7, 7 p.m. (TNT)
- Game 3 @ Knicks: Saturday, May 10, TBD (ABC)
- Game 4 @ Knicks: Monday, May 12, TBD (ESPN)
- Game 5* @ Celtics: Wednesday, May 14, TBD (ABC)
- Game 6* @ Knicks: Friday, May 16, TBD (ESPN)
- Game 7* @ Celtics: Monday, May 19, 8 p.m. (TNT)
* If necessary
3 things to watch
Can the Knicks hang with the elite?
One of the oldest tropes in sports is that the playoffs are a completely new season, and for the Knicks, it will have to be.
The Celtics swept the season series 4-0, which was just a microcosm of the Knicks’ struggles against the top teams in the NBA. Of the four teams that finished with better records than New York, Boston, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, and Houston, it went 1-12 against them.
The Knicks were a minus-65 point differential against the Celtics this season, and were ripped apart from 3-point range during the four meetings. Boston was a plus-39 in 3-pointers made over the Knicks, which included the tying of an NBA single-game record on opening night with 29 made threes.
While most of the offensive responsibility is going to fall on Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, the rest of the Knicks’ starting five will have to find their feel from deep to keep up with the Celtics. Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, and OG Anunoby went a combined 9-for-37 (24.3%) from 3-point range against Boston this season.
Jayson Tatum vs. Karl-Anthony Towns
Why doesn’t this say Tatum vs. Brunson, you might ask? The Celtics are going to do everything in their power to create this matchup on both ends of the floor.
Given Towns’ versatility as one of the top deep-shooting big men in basketball, the Celtics have often deployed Tatum and point guard Jrue Holiday on the All-Star. Tatum is a more mobile defender who can keep up with Towns on the perimeter, while Boston’s Kristaps Porzingis can keep tabs on Josh Hart, who is the lesser threat from deep.
The 7-foot Towns can neutralize this by heading toward the basket and taking advantage of the size mismatch. That is easier said than done, though. In the first round against the Pistons, Towns shot 15-of-23 (65.2%) in six games inside the restricted area. Outside of the RA while still in the paint, he shot just 9-of-24 (37.5%) while being guarded by 6-foot-8 Tobias Harris and 6-foot-10 Jalen Duren.
On defense, Towns will likely see a lot of Tatum, too. Given Bridges, Hart, and Anunoby’s defensive prowess, both he and Jaylen Brown will be switched to face Towns and Brunson as much as possible, which is par for the course given the regular season. Per NBA.com, the Celtics ran 134 pick-and-rolls against Towns this year, which is the most against any defender by Boston this season.
Can Jalen Brunson keep this up?
Against one of the best young perimeter defenders in Detroit’s Ausar Thompson, Brunson had himself a remarkable first-round showing, averaging 31.5 points and 8.2 assists over the six games.
He will likely, somehow, have to be even against the Celtics if the Knicks want to have a chance in this thing.
Obviously, that is no easy task, considering Holiday is one of the game’s best defenders. Even though he missed the final three games of their first-round series against the Orlando Magic, Derrick White will be able to pick up the slack. The guard’s 0.130 defensive win shares rank 22nd amongst all players in the NBA this season.
Expect a relentless two-man effort throughout the series against Brunson, who averaged 26.7 points and five assists per game against the Celtics this season. It is an even tougher task when considering his uncertain ankle, which caused him to miss 15 games during the regular season and then flared up again during Game 5 against Detroit.
