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The Boston Celtics blew another huge lead in Game 2 on Wednesday night against the New York Knicks, ultimately losing 91-90 and falling into a 0-2 series hole heading back to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4.
The Cs were an elite shooting team all season long, both from the field and from deep. But in this series, that's been far from the case. In fact, they've been substantially below their expected field goal percentage in both games so far.
Via ESPN's Zach Kram:
Boston underperformed its expected eFG by 15% in Game 1 vs. the Knicks, per GeniusIQ, its worst performance all season.
Then the Celtics were 17% below expectation in Game 2.
Blame the lack of offensive variation, sure, but this is also dreadful shooting luck.
— Zach Kram (@zachkram) May 8, 2025
Yikes. The Celtics shot 36% from the field and 25% from downtown (10 for 40) in Game 2. As for Game 1, it was essentially the same numbers. That's not a recipe for success, and it doesn't help that both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were limited to nine combined points in the fourth quarter on Wednesday.
Boston was outscored 23-6 in the final 8:30 of the final frame and made just one of their final 15 shots. The fourth period has been dreadful for the Celtics, shooting 4 for 26 from beyond the arc across Games 1 and 2.
Brown knows Boston isn't at their best.
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“(It's) a bunch of stuff that we can control,” said Brown, via ESPN. “I feel like we played a little bit fast and sped up a little antsy. Just it's a rough night.”
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla gave the Knicks credit for how they played in Game 2, but he also acknowledged his squad isn't converting their open looks:
“They made every play. … I thought we generated some good looks and then I thought we had some live-ball turnovers and they took advantage of it, so they made the necessary plays to win,” said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, whose team didn't allow any points off turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“We put ourselves in position and we just didn't make the plays.”
The Celtics have to shoot the ball a whole lot better, and it won't be any easier in the raucous MSG environment. But the defending champs need to dig deep, or else they will be going home a lot sooner than desired.
