Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Brad Stevens on Celtics’ loss to Knicks: ‘We blew the first 2 games’
"You get these opportunities, and one team takes advantage of them, and that team usually moves on."
As he gets ready to lead the Celtics into an uncertain — and likely painful — offseason, Brad Stevens tabled several questions on Monday revolving around Boston’s cap situation and what moves might have to be made this summer to reduce the team’s hefty luxury-tax bill.
But, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations changed his tune when asked about Boston’s disastrous second-round performance against the Knicks.
“I’d rather talk about all the CBA and all that crap,” Stevens said with a smile.
While Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury largely sealed Boston’s fate this postseason, the Celtics also squandered a chance to at least punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals by beating the Knicks — a team that Boston swept in the regular season.
Advertisement:
But be it lapses in crunch-time situations, a regression in Boston’s 3-point shooting, Kristaps Porzingis’ lingering illness, or other factors, the Celtics failed to deliver multiple knockout punches against New York — especially early in what ended up being a six-game bout.
Stevens bemoaned Boston’s inability to defeat the Knicks in Games 1 and 2 at TD Garden — two losses where the Celtics held 20-point leads in the closing minutes of the third quarter.
“Listen, the reality is we blew the first two games, right? And that’s why we put ourselves in a tough spot,” Stevens said Monday at his end-of-season press conference. “I realize, and we all realize — listen, these leads go fast, these games go fast, but we had our opportunities and, yes, you can win when you’re down 2-0, but you’ve just diminished your margin for error.
Advertisement:
“Because there’s going to be games like ours in Game 5 where we go nuts and we’re hard to beat that night, or ours in Game 3, where we’re hard to beat that night, but that just ties it. You still have to do that two more times.”
Several critical missteps paved the way for New York’s late-game comebacks in Games 1 and 2.
Boston had a record-setting night of futility from 3-point range in Game 1, going 15-for-60 from behind the arc and setting the NBA record for most 3-point misses in a postseason game with 45.
In Game 2, Joe Mazzulla’s decision to put New York in the bonus by hacking Mitchell Robinson and not calling a timeout ahead of Boston’s final possession of the night loomed large in an eventual 91-90 defeat.
“That’s not on any one person. That’s not out of maliciousness, that’s not a bad decision. It’s not bad luck,” Stevens said. “It’s, we had opportunities to win those first two home games, and then we put ourselves behind the eight ball, and New York gained what I thought was not only confidence, but momentum.
“They are peaking. You can see it. I think all four teams that are playing in these semifinals deserve to be there, and any of the four could win it. But credit New York for the way they played and the way they came back in those two games., specifically.”
Advertisement:
Boston entered the 2024-25 season with high expectations and the goal of being the first Celtics team to win back-to-back titles since the 1968-69 clubs.
But looking past Tatum’ health, Stevens believes that Boston’s inability to execute in critical situations of games is the reason why the Celtics are now staring at a long summer instead of orchestrating another deep playoff run.
“Sometimes it’s as simple as those are the margins,” Stevens said. “What I just mentioned — from winning and losing. We lost an overtime game at home in Game 1, and a game by one point in Game 2 that we’re up 16, 18, 20 [points] with 15 minutes to go in the game. So that’s the margin of error that you’re dealing with. …. I’ve said many times, like, we could easily have been up 3-1 when Jayson got hurt.
“But the reality is, we were probably not winning that game anyway. So we were going to be down 3-1. Last year in the Indiana series [in the Eastern Conference Finals], they could have easily been up 3-1 on us. And I think that that’s just kind of these series.Y ou get these opportunities, and one team takes advantage of them, and that team usually moves on, and the Knicks did that.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com