Shockingly, the Boston Celtics are down 0-2 to the New York Knicks. Both games have seen the Celtics lose 20-point leads, becoming the first team to blow two 20-point leads in the same postseason. During Game 2, their offense went ice cold down the stretch, giving up a 21-2 run and not hitting a field goal for eight minutes. In the fourth quarter of this series, the Celtics have scored just 33 points on 20 percent shooting from the field. The Celtics’ hopes of repeating as champions are now in jeopardy. Let’s dive into some of the Celtics’ problems and the adjustments they must implement going forward.
#Celtics in the 4th quarter this series:
33 points
9-of-45 (20%) FG
4-of-26 (15.4%) 3PT
-22— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) May 8, 2025
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4 Adjustments the Celtics Must Make After Brutal Back-to-Back Losses
1. Tatum Must be More Assertive and Intentional
After a brilliant series against the Orlando Magic, Jayson Tatum was expected to continue his dominance. However, Tatum has struggled so far against the Knicks, averaging 18 points while shooting 28.6 percent from the field. In Game 2, Tatum scored just 13 points, shooting 5-19 from the field and 1-5 from three. Tatum shot 4-6 at the rim but 0-8 on non-at-the-rim two-point shots. According to data from NBA.com, he took 10 tight or very tight shots in Game 2. Continuously, he settled for mid-range and fadeaway jumpers. Tatum also refused to take advantage of Jalen Brunson guarding him, including on a play late in the fourth quarter when he passed up an opportunity to attack Brunson, kicking it out to Derrick White for three instead. This decision-making is unacceptable from the team’s best player.
While there are of course other factors to the Celtics being down 2-0 Jayson Tatum not imposing his will enough, picking his spots horribly, and not taking adv of switches really hurts and he has to play better.
Here I detail some plays he can improve on
(A Thread
): pic.twitter.com/iUaUna6SFZ
— NikNBA
(@__Kingnik) May 8, 2025
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Tatum must use his size and athleticism to attack the rim, especially when Brunson is guarding him and with Karl-Anthony Towns at the rim. It’s vital for Tatum to be more aggressive, especially with Kristaps Porziņģis struggling mightily. Ultimately, team success is tied to star players, and Tatum must step up for Boston to get back in this series.
2. Better Shot Selection
Much of the discourse surrounds the Celtics’ three-point-centric offense, especially after setting the record for most playoff threes missed in Game 1. The Celtics reduced their three-point attempts by 20 while shooting four more shots at the rim. However, Boston should attack the rim more, especially in the fourth quarter, as they have posted a combined nine attempts at the rim in the last two games. Some of these problems will solve themselves as the Celtics’ unusually poor three-point shooting (25 percent in the last two games) will revert to the norm. Regardless, attacking the rim and diversifying their offense will be necessary, especially down the stretch of games.
Matchup Hunt Properly
The Celtics are known for matchup hunting and exploiting poor defenders. However, they’ve failed to do so against Brunson and Towns this series. This has been perhaps the real issue with their shot selection. Towns has averaged just 3.5 shots contested at the rim in the past two games, and has contested just one shot in the fourth quarters of these two games, despite allowing opponents to shoot 71.4 percent at the rim. In contrast, Towns contested 5.3 shots at the rim in the regular season against the Celtics. Towns has also averaged 4.5 fouls, this series, the Celtics must do a better job of attacking when he’s in foul trouble. Boston must start pressuring the rim and attacking KAT in other actions, especially the pick-and-roll.
The Celtics have attacked Brunson relentlessly as he is averaging 20.5 field goals defended, which is a sizable uptick from his 11.3 field goals defended attempted against Boston in the regular season. However, they have settled for shooting over him instead of punishing his lack of size. The Celtics are shooting 11 threes against Brunson compared to five shots at the rim, despite shooting 70 percent at the rim against Brunson. He has defended one total shot at the rim in the fourth quarter of these two games.
In both of these cases, Porziņģis’ struggles hinder their effectiveness in hunting matchups. Nevertheless, Boston should be able to punish two weak defenders more effectively. The Celtics’ offense is typically excellent at hunting matchups, but they must be more intentional with how they hunt matchups.
3. Better Ball Movement
Another hallmark of the Celtics’ offense that has seemingly disappeared is elite ball movement. In the regular season, the Celtics averaged 278 passes per game. Over the past two games, this number is down to 254.4, including 246 passes in Game 2. Furthermore, they averaged 26.1 assists in the regular season but have averaged just 17.5 assists in the past two games. Boston needs to move the ball around more to get everyone involved and generate better offense.
The Celtics’ turnovers have also increased from 11.9 in the regular season to 15.5 in the past two games. White has been a stabilizing force, averaging just one turnover. However, Tatum and Jaylen Brown have both struggled to take care of the ball, averaging four turnovers this series. After dominating in the first half with 17 points, Brown struggled in the second half, scoring just three points and committing four turnovers, including several reckless plays. Granted, the Knicks’ elite wing defense of OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart deserves plenty of credit. Regardless, the Celtics’ stars must start making better decisions.
4. Joe Mazzulla Needs to Take on an Active Role
Most of these issues pertain to players, and they deserve most of the blame. However, head coach Joe Mazzulla hasn’t put his team in a position to be successful. Many of the shot selection and matchup hunting issues can be tied to Mazzulla. The Celtics’ three-point-centric style of offense is dominant, and their shooting will get back on track. Nevertheless, when the shots aren’t falling, the coach must find other ways to generate offense.
Mazzulla’s late-game management has been indefensible. During a 21-2 Knicks run, Mazzulla didn’t call a timeout, nor did he during the final play, which resulted in a Tatum dribbling into a triple team and getting his shot blocked. Mazzulla must re-collect and calm his group in situations like this when they are clearly tense. Despite his success, Mazzulla’s timeout management has been a common issue.
Additionally, in Game 1, Mazzulla drew up two confusing after-timeout plays. In the fourth quarter, Mazzulla drew up a play resulting in a fadeaway three for Tatum with just .6 seconds left on the clock instead of an easier look at the rim. Then, in overtime, he designed a play for Brown to shoot a three-pointer, Bridges made a great defensive play and ripped it out of his hands, but drawing up a play for someone who was 1-10 from three is a questionable decision at best. Undoubtedly, Mazzulla’s end-of-game management must improve, or more late-game collapses like this are bound to happen.
The Last Word
There are other adjustments that would also benefit the Celtics. Including Porziņģis returning to his normal self, he’s been struggling with an illness and conditioning. He is averaging just four points on 33 percent shooting. However, he’s not at 100%, and there might be no changing that. Moreover, Porziņģis has been sidelined often, so the Celtics are used to playing without him. There have been some instances of ball watching on defense and poor transition defense, especially down the stretch. The Celtics could also sag off Josh Hart less, who is averaging 18.5 points.
Regardless, offense has clearly been a bigger problem than defense, and there have been some positives defensively, particularly Jrue Holiday defending Brunson. Overall, for the Celtics to get back on track, Tatum playing like a star, better shot selection, ball movement, and coaching will be necessary.
Featured image: © Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
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