BOSTON, MASS.- After beating the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs the Knicks moved on to take on the Boston Celtics.
The Knicks played the Celtics three times in the regular season and lost all three. This series is expected to be a big test for the Knicks to see if they are really contenders or pretenders.
Game one was a true challenge for the Knicks as they managed to win in overtime 108-105.
On a night the Knicks trailed by 20 points, they were able to make a comeback and steal the first game of the series on the road.
The question is can they do it again?
Yes they can, The Knicks stepped up their defense big time in the second half and overtime as they made a concerted effort to keep the Celtics out of the paint. In Game one, the Celtics shot a record 60 three-point shots and missed 45 of them.
After a game like this, the Knicks must be prepared for a tough Game two against the defending champs and as head coach Tom Thibodeau said “it’s one win” so the Knicks cannot be complacent.
To win game two, the Knicks must do a couple things in order to put themselves in the driver seat.
The first being, Karl-Anthony Towns has to be more aggressive on the offensive end, in game one the star center had 13 points on 6-13 shooting. To beat Boston, the Knicks need Towns to be that X-factor that he is and dominate inside to give at least 20-25 points to help Jalen Brunson.
The other important thing the Knicks must improve on in game two is rebounding the basketball. The Knicks were outrebounded by 10 on Monday night and that’s not a recipe for winning when you let the other team dominate like this and especially allowing 19 offensive boards will hurt you in the long run.
In all, if the Knicks manage to do these couple things along with keeping the defensive pressure up to slow down Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum while also getting key contributions from OG Anunoby who had 29 points in game one, they will put themselves in great position to come out with a victory tonight and take a two game series lead.
