Monday night dramatically altered the strength of the lens through which many Knicks fans are viewing this season.
They see a team whose resolve has been hardened and an upsurge in their ability to seize the moment after winning a tough 4-2 opening round series against the Detroit Pistons and improbable 108-105 overtime road victory versus the Boston Celtics on Monday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup.
Despite the circumstances that led to the Celtics’ breakdown, particularly their starting center Kristaps Porzingis playing only 13 minutes due to an illness, the Knicks fought their way back from 20 points down in a show of unity and belief in each other that’s needed to make deep playoff runs.
“We told each other just keep believing. Just keep fighting and sticking together, and chipping away,” said Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, who was tied with teammate OG Anunoby for a game-high 29 points.
Heading into Game 2 last night in Boston, Brunson has been arguably the best player in the NBA thus far this postseason.
“There wasn’t going to be a 20-point shot, so we had to keep chipping away possession by possession,” he added.
The Celtics took an NBA playoff record 60 3-pointers and missed a record 45. It was an anomaly for them to shoot that poorly and the Knicks are acutely aware they will not deviate from their normal standard of play of hoisting volume 3-point attempts.
“They’re the defending champion. Until someone proves they can beat them, they’re defending their championship. We know that there’s a lot of work for us to do,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau.
Boston forward Jaylen Brown expectedly maintained the battle-tested Celtics will not waver.
“We’re just looking forward to Game 2 … We feel like we let our home crowd down, but we’re looking forward to Game 2,” Brown emphasized following Game 1.
“You take a look at the game and you learn what you can learn from it. Obviously we had a historic night of missed 3-pointers, we’ll take a look and see what the energy was. In reality you have to have a short term [memory], throw it all away, get ready for Game 2. You don’t have time to let stuff carry over, you make adjustments, you come ready to play on our home floor.”
Game 3 will be at Madison Square Garden Saturday at 3:30 p.m. with Game 4 in New York on Monday night at 7:30 p.m.