Jaylen Brown quells worries about Celtics falling behind Knicks: ‘You have to beat us four times … not twice’
The Celtics earned a decisive and much-needed win over New York on Saturday.
The Celtics can breathe a little easier on Saturday night.
After falling behind 2-0 to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Boston answered with a dominant 115-93 win in New York on Saturday. Though they aren’t out of the woods yet after a disastrous start to the series, the conversations surrounding the Celtics following Game 3 are considerably different than the reaction to the first two games.
After the game, Celtics star Jaylen Brown provided some perspective on how the series started.
“You have to beat us four times. That’s what it comes down to,” Brown told reporters. “Not twice, not once, not three times. You have to win four games. So it’s a lot of basketball to be played.”
In recent history, losing streaks haven’t come the Celtics’ way too often. The last time Boston lost four out of seven games in one stretch was the 2023 Eastern Conference finals, where it lost to the Heat in Game 7. That series also marked the last time the Celtics lost three consecutive games. They haven’t lost four straight since 2021.
So, as Brown alluded to in his comments, Boston is a difficult team to knock off in a series. Its current group — with the additions of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis — never trailed a series on its title run last year, and its current series marks the first time the unit has lost twice in a single series.
It appears the Celtics weren’t all that concerned about falling behind the way they did, no matter how bad they looked at times in Games 1 and 2. In fact, Payton Pritchard embraced that opportunity.
“You wouldn’t want to be in any other position as a competitor,” Pritchard said. “This is the best moment you can be in, down 2-0.”
Of course, Saturday was a must-win for Boston, as no team in NBA history has erased a 3-0 series deficit. The Celtics win now assures their series against the Knicks will go at least five games – and a six or seven-game series seems increasingly likely.
Brown had a bit of a bounce back game individually too, scoring 19 points with six rebounds and five assists. Boston will look to even the series in Game 4 on Monday night.
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