Only in the second game after a week of games postponed due to an outbreak of COVID-19 within the team, the Boston Celtics suffered an embarrassing 105-75 defeat at the hands of the New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon, where they struggled hard at both ends from the ground. While the Celtics were without Jayson Tatum, who remains out due to the league’s health and safety protocols, give credit to the Knicks defense, which kept Boston with just 50 points in three quarters of the action.
Boston hit 7 out of 49 in the 3-point range and hit a disastrous 29.8 percent of the field. Only two Celtics finished in double digits, with Jaylen Brown leading the team with 25 points and Marcus Smart adding just 10. After the terrible defeat, Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Sunday’s game was not characteristic of this team.
“I don’t believe this team is. I believe we have to play very well to win.” Stevens told reporters. “Our margin is not that big. Today, we had a disaster. You try to have as little as possible. We just looked like we were in the mud today and we credited them. They weren’t.”
A clunker, in fact. This was only the third game this season in which the Celtics were left with less than 100 points, and they were nowhere near reaching that mark. On the Knicks side, this was the first time since 2016 that he had an opponent with less than 80 points in a game.
This was also Kemba Walker’s debut of the season after the All-Star guard was left out earlier this season while recovering from a knee injury that had been bothering him for some time. Walker looked visibly rusty, as evidenced by his five turns, but he also ended with three steals and was making moves to put him and his teammates in a position to put points on the board, but no one – including Walker – managed to finish in the attack.
Walker played only 20 minutes while the Celtics put him back in the game, but said after the defeat that he expects the restriction to be lifted soon. He also said that his knee was greatcompared to what he was dealing with in the NBA bubble.
The Knicks recorded a streak of five consecutive defeats, with impressive performances by debutants Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin. He finished quickly with 17 points and eight rebounds from the bench, while Toppin added 12 points and five rebounds. Julius Randle continued his surprising start to the season, leading New York on points (20) and rebounds (12), to continue with four assists and three steals.
This should be an encouraging victory for the Knicks, having accumulated five losses before Sunday. While many point to Tatum’s departure for Boston as a way to diminish that victory, New York actually looked like a much better team than last season. It shows that players are buying what coach Tom Thibodeau is teaching, and that the progression of players like RJ Barrett – who scored 19 points in the win – and Randle is helping this team to take a step forward in its endless reconstruction.