There’s no denying that the New York Knicks are massive underdogs in their Round 2 series against the Boston Celtics. Not only are the Celtics the reigning champions, but they manhandled New York in the regular season with a 4-0 record.
The Knicks are major underdogs in Round 2 against the Celtics
Even though the Knicks are fully healthy now, they will likely still struggle against the high-octane offense that the Celtics possess. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two of the better scorers in the league, and their complementary pieces of Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Kristaps Porzingis are also tough to contain.
Many analysts think that the series is more lopsided than it may seem on paper. In fact, every ESPN analyst who was polled to pick the winner of the series picked the Celtics to defeat the Knicks:
- Tim MacMahon: Celtics in 6
- Kevin Pelton: Celtics in 5
- Ramona Shelburne: Celtics in 6
- Andre Snellings: Celtics in 7
- Jorge Sedano: Celtics in 6
- Jerry Brembry: Celtics in 5
- Dave McMenamin: Celtics in 7
- Jamal Collier: Celtics in 6
- Chris Herring: Celtics in 5
- Marc Spears: Celtics in 6
- Jeremy Woo: Celtics in 6
The Knicks have two All-Stars on their squad who can match the high level of play that the Celtics’ stars provide. Jalen Brunson has scored 30+ points in five of the six playoff games thus far, and Karl-Anthony Towns has been a scoring machine in his first year in New York.
The Knicks need to tighten up defensively in Round 2
However, the main problems for New York come defensively. They have struggled to guard the three-point shot all season, and some of those issues showed in their first-round series against the Detroit Pistons.
Many times, shooters were left open for clean looks, but Detroit could never fully take advantage. New York won’t get away with that against Boston, however, as they are battle-tested and have proven that their lethal shooting can carry them.
Perhaps the gap between the two teams showed on Opening Night back in October, when the Celtics splashed 29 threes on them and tied an NBA record for most threes made in a game. Furthermore, the average margin of victory for the Celtics in their four regular season matchups was 16.25 points.
The Knicks will look to change the narrative in Round 2
Therefore, most of these contests were not relatively close and rather dominated by the Celtics. However, the Knicks can change a lot of narratives written about them this year if they can surprise everyone with a strong series against Boston.
They will have a chance to show something in Game 1 on Monday. The game will tip off at 7 P.M. EST at the TD Garden and will be broadcast nationally on TNT.