For Knicks, it's only going to get tougher against Celtics
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) celebrates with forward OG Anunoby, center, and guard Josh Hart (3) after scoring the winning basket in a win over the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Detroit. Credit: AP/Duane Burleson
In the afterglow of the moment, the one Jalen Brunson created out of some magic and spark that he conjures up better than any other player in the game right now, the Knicks celebrated wildly on the floor at Little Caesars Arena, That continued in the locker room, which reverberated with music from the speaker Brunson carries from arena to arena.
Give them that. Allow them the time to celebrate the hard-fought first-round series win over the Detroit Pistons, even if it is not the achievement the Knicks were built for.
Eventually, the ringing in their ears from the Detroit crowd and the music echoing through the locker room would fade. When they got off the plane that brought them back to New York and woke up from the celebration, the reality in front of them was one they’d been planning for long before Brunson’s three-pointer swished through the net with 4.3 seconds left to beat the Pistons, 116-113, in Game 6 on Thursday night.
The Boston Celtics await.
The defending champions are the measuring stick, not just for the Knicks, but for every team that hopes to wear the NBA crown. Last season's incarnation of the Knicks never got to face the Celtics, and the offseason moves were put in place for this task. The Knicks believe that they have the pieces to make it happen.
“We’re good,” Josh Hart said. “Need a couple of days to recover physically. But we know that’s going to be a test. They’re the champs last year. They’re playing at a very high level. It’s going to test us. But we’re confident in ourselves. We’re comfortable with who we are. I think we’ve grown. We’re continuing to grow. So it’s going to be a heck of a battle. That’s a great team with a great coaching staff. So it’s going to be a good series.”
It was Brunson who delivered the Knicks into their third straight trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals, but to get past Boston, it will take much more than just the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year. The Knicks lost to the Celtics in all four meetings this season.
On opening night, after the Celtics were handed their championship rings, the Knicks fell behind by as many as 35 points before falling, 132-109, in the first test for the newly assembled roster. The next time they met, the Knicks trailed by 35 again in a 131-104 blowout at Madison Square Garden. And Kristaps Porzingis didn't play for Boston in either of those games.
The third time the two met, the Celtics led by 27 at one point — and speaking of one point, in those three games, the Knicks' biggest lead at any time was one point.
In the final week of the season, the Knicks took the Celtics to overtime — and lost again — in the only game in which both teams were at full strength.
“I think every series is different, but we can learn from our experiences as we go on,” Brunson said. “I don’t want to say it’s going to be different, but obviously, we’re playing against the defending champs next time. So it’s going to be a lot different.
“Playing this team that we just played — I’m not discrediting them at all, but they have experience. The Celtics have experience. And playing these guys, they were just physical. They brought the fight to us. And we had to respond, and we did. But every series is going to be different. And you got to respect each opponent you play and then you got to go from there and make adjustments. But everything is different. From the first quarter, the first thing, everything is going to be different.”
Facing the Celtics is different from facing the Pistons, and it’s even different from facing the Pacers last year in the conference semifinals, when Indiana knocked out an injury-riddled Knicks squad in seven games. The Knicks can only hope that they are different now, too. For all of the talk this season about minutes and about the ankle problems that have plagued Brunson, the Knicks enter the series as healthy and as complete as they have been all season, really in three seasons.
Boston has been without Jrue Holiday for the last three games as he nurses a hamstring strain. Jaylen Brown has been battling knee issues and Jayson Tatum missed a game against Orlando in the first round after he suffered a wrist injury in a fall.
“Obviously, I haven’t dug into that yet,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said of the Celtics on Thursday night. “I watched some playoff games. We will be doing a lot of work the next couple of days. Our assistants and the advance guys have been working on it for a long time. We have some days for recovery and preparation. They are the defending champion, so we know we are going to have to do our best.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
