The Celtics Are Finally Back, Now Let's Not Lose To The Knicks Again Please

The wait is finally over, well actually not really because the Celts don’t tip until 8pm which is some bullshit given the fact that us Celtics fans have been waiting for I dunno, 6 months to watch this team play again. But eventually they will return to the court to face the Knicks in a little rematch for the first time since they let Trey Burke shit down their throat. The good news is he’s out tonight, but that doesn’t mean this is going to be a cakewalk. All this means is that a guy like Allonzo Trier is going to get more minutes, and make no mistake he is every bit as capable of having a Trey Burke like game.

Despite being a team that should be tanking for Zion, the Knicks are playing teams tough and are 4-3 over their last 7 games. Over that stretch they have wins over MIL/MEM/NO/BOS so it’s not like they beat up on the bottom of the league. On paper, the Celtics should be clear favorites, Vegas has them -13, but I’m not buying it. Since when have the Celtics ever blown out a team when we thought they would? There are things we can take away from the first meeting that I’m hoping Brad has his team ready for, because despite the Celts playing well right now, this does have the potential to be another one of those let down games where we all want to pull our hair out. Based off what we saw a few weeks ago, this is what I’m looking out for

For the love of God, please be aggressive and  fight over screens

You want to know why Trey Burke was so effective? Because the Celtics were lazy as hell getting around screens and gave him space to be comfortable. It looked like this

One of the reasons for the Celtics recent success is how much better they have been at fighting through screens and giving the ball handler zero space. Smart has shown the biggest improvement, but pressure is going to be on guys like Jaylen and Terry to be much, much better in this area.  The Knicks made 15 3PM in the first meeting which was 5 more than their average on the season, so defending the three point line is going to be crucial.

Force Tim Hardaway Jr to shoot anything other than shots in the restricted area

Here are the facts. Outside of the restricted area where he shoots 51%, THJ does not shoot better than 36% anywhere else. His most common shot this season has been the above the break three where he shoots 33%, so if it’s me I’m forcing him to take as many midrange shots as he wants. He shoots just 36% in this area, and the Celts did a great job of this in the first meeting. Almost everything they create for THJ starts will an off ball screen, so if I’m the Celtics I bait him into taking these low percentage looks. Sort of like this

He’s going to be the Knicks #1 option obviously, and now that the Celtics are at full strength and are playing well, I’m curious to see how successful they are at defending him. His approach is pretty simple, he either wants to get to the rim or take above the break threes, limit those and you should be able to contain him.

Rebound, rebound, rebound

In the last meeting Enes Kanter had 6 OREB which led to 15 second chance points. This was concerning because the Celts started both Baynes and Horford, and seeing as how all signs are pointing to Brad keeping his current starting lineup, the Celts are going to be small. This is where they’re going to need guys like Tatum/Brown/Kyrie to make sure to hit the glass, because the one thing you can’t do against teams like the Knicks is give them second and third chances. That’s when you get the back breaking Kevin Knox three or some shit. The Knicks will miss their fair of shots, it’s up to the Celts to put a body on someone and box them the hell out.

Attack the paint please

Despite having a nice rim protector in Mitchell Robinson, if you look back you’ll see that the Celtics got into the paint at will. They won the points in the paint battle 42-34, and they actually got to the line taking 32 FTA. Despite their poor FG%, everyone from Tatum to Jaylen to Kyrie got into the paint whenever they wanted. This is their combined shot chart

Look at that painted area, there is going to be plenty of opportunity for everyone on this team as long as they remain aggressive and do not settle for threes.

Don’t get down by 26 in the first half

I feel like this goes without saying, but you can never be too careful in the event one of them is reading this blog. Little tip, not getting down by a million at home to a stinky team usually works out well for you, so try not to do that. Thank you.

I think Celtics fans everywhere can admit that this team clearly overlooked the Knicks prior to their first meeting. They played as if they thought they could just show up against a team that is actively tanking and they would roll over with ease. In reality, the exact opposite happened, the Celtics were sloppy as shit and the Knicks came out early and punched them in the mouth. Since then we haven’t really seen that problem because I think the players finally realized it was time to stop fucking around and actually play with the energy and effort that we’ve come to expect from this group. We’ve reached the part of the Celtics schedule where they are presented an opportunity to rack up some much needed wins and truly show us that they’ve turned a corner. Every other time we’ve been in this situation before, we’ve seen them take a step back. Seeing as how they are beyond rested and are healthy, I’m going to need them to not dick around and take the Knicks seriously, so we can all have a stress free evening.

Naturally that means this will probably be a close game in the fourth, but if they address some of these issues I think we’ll all be happy come this time tomorrow.