NBA Playoff Picks 5/14 – Knicks @ Celtics

By Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

The Eastern Conference Semifinals continue tonight with the third-seeded New York Knicks visiting the second-seeded and defending NBA champion Boston Celtics in Game Five on TNT. New York leads 3-1 after winning a 121-113 slugfest at home on Monday. If New York wins tonight, they’ll advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.

The Knicks leading 3-1 is a stunning development when you consider Boston won all four regular season matchups against New York — winning by an average margin of 16.3 points. Boston had also won nine of the last ten against New York over the last two full regular seasons. Boston is a 4.5-point favorite and the total is 207.5.

SERIES RECAP: GAME ONE

Game One looked to be heading down the same path as recent Knicks-Celtics matchups with the Celtics dominating the Knicks for most of the game. Boston held a 61-45 lead at the half, and increased the lead to a high of 20 points (72-52) after an Al Horford dunk with 6:11 remaining in the third quarter.  

Things quickly unraveled for Boston after going up by 20 points in the third quarter. They missed five straight three-pointers and eight of ten, which allowed New York to pull within 84-75 by the end of the third quarter. Boston missed 19 of 20 three-pointers overall in the ill-fated third quarter that resulted in a Knicks comeback.

The fourth quarter saw New York surge ahead of Boston 97-91 with 3:28 remaining behind the scoring exploits of Jalen Brunson, who scored 8 points in a little over a minute of game time. Boston rallied to tie the game at 100 with 53.1 seconds left in regulation. Neither team was able to score again which led to overtime. 

New York outscored Boston 8-5 in overtime to pull off an improbable 108-105 victory. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges carried the Knicks to victory in the extra session as they accounted for 6 of the 8 points. Bridges also made the game-winning play on defense when he stole the ball from Jaylen Brown on the game’s final possession as time expired. 

Boston contributed to their own demise as they shot an abymal 15-for-60 (25%) from three-point land. Boston’s 45 missed three-pointers set an NBA playoff record. Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby scored 29 apiece for New York in the Game One victory. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown scored 23 apiece for Boston in the loss. They combined to shoot 5-25 from beyond the arc. 

GAME TWO RECAP

In what can only be described as one of the most shocking occurrences in playoff history, the defending champion Boston Celtics blew a 20-point lead for a second straight game and fell to the Knicks 91-90. The Celtics held their 20-point lead (73-53) at a later stage of the third quarter — they led by 20 at the 2:11 mark of the third, as opposed to the 6:11 mark in Game One — this time around. 

With Boston up 73-53 with 2:11 left in the third quarter, they proceeded to miss five straight shots and commit four turnovers which allowed the Knicks to pull within 73-61 by the close of the period. Boston maintained a 12-point lead (84-72) until the midway point of the fourth quarter. From that point on, they missed 7 straight shots from the floor. The Knicks went on a 17-4 run to grab an 89-88 lead with 24 seconds remaining in regulation. 

After seven straight misses from the floor late in the fourth quarter, Boston’s next made field goal was a dunk by Jayson Tatum with 18.1 seconds left that gave Boston a 90-89 lead. New York went back on top 91-90 after Brunson made two free throws with 12.7 seconds left. On the game’s final play, Jayson Tatum attempted to drive to the basket, but had the ball swatted away by Mikal Bridges as time expired. Bridges made the game-winning defensive play for a second straight game.

Josh Hart scored a team-high 23 points (9-15 FG, 3-6 3Pt, 2-2 FT) and added 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in the Game Two win. Karl-Anthony Towns registered a double-double of 21 points (9-16 FG, 0-1 3Pt, 3-3 FT) and 17 rebounds for New York. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White led Boston with 20 points apiece. Jayson Tatum contributed 15 points (5-19 FG, 1-5 3Pt, 2-2 FT), 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block. Boston went a combined 25 for 100 from long distance in Games 1 and 2. 

GAME THREE RECAP

New York headed home to Madison Square Garden for Game Three with a surprising 2-0 lead over the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics. Boston corrected their horrific shooting woes in New York, and picked up a dominant 115-93 win in Game Three. The Celtics shot 20 for 40 from three-point land in their blowout of the Knicks.

Boston connected on all six of their three-point attempts in the opening frame and led 36-20 after one quarter. They outscored New York by nine points in the second quarter and built a 71-46 at the half. The Celtics led by as many as 31 (79-48) early in the third quarter. New York never got closer than 20 points for the rest of the game.

Payton Pritchard, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, scored a team-high 23 points (8-16 FG, 5-10 3Pt, 2-2) points off the bench for Boston in the Game Three win. Jayson Tatum added 22 points (8-20 FG, 5-9 3Pt, 1-1 FT), 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. Jalen Brunson led New York with 27 points (9-21 FG, 3-8 3Pt, 6-7 FT) and 7 assists. Karl-Anthony Towns contributed 21 points (5-18 FG, 1-5 3Pt, 10-11 FT) and 15 rebounds.

GAME FOUR RECAP

The pressure was on both teams for Game Four on Monday night as Boston did not want to go down 3-1, and New York would be under immense scrutiny if they were to drop two straight games at home after winning Games One and Two in Boston. Boston came out hot from three-point land again in Game 4, but New York withstood Boston’s runs and prevailed 121-113. The game was overshadowed by a devastating injury suffered by Boston superstar Jayson Tatum late in the game.

Boston continued their hot three-point shooting in Game Four as they connected on nine of 12 from long distance in the opening frame en route to building a 39-28 lead after the first quarter. Both teams scored 23 points in the second quarter and Boston led 62-51 at the half. 

New York seized control of the game in the third quarter by outscoring Boston 37-23. Jalen Brunson scored 18 points in the third frame as New York took an 88-85 lead heading into the fourth quarter. New York’s five starters played the entire third quarter. The game remained nip and tuck until the 5:22 mark of the fourth quarter when New York went on a electrifying 11-0 run that broke open a close game and gave New York a 116-104 lead with 2:25 left in regulation. The game was never in doubt after that. 

Unfortunately for Boston, their perennial All-Star Jayson Tatum went down with a foot injury in the midst of New York’s decisive 11-0 run. Tatum suffered the injury when he attempted to plant his foot after OG Anonuby stole a botched pass intended for Tatum and converted a dunk that made the score 113-104. Tatum was helped off the floor and visibly distraught as he headed to the locker room. It was reported yesterday that Tatum tore his right Achilles tendon and will miss the rest of the postseason. 

 

Jalen Brunson scored a team-high 39 points (14-25 FG, 4-8 3Pt, 7-9 FT) and dished out 12 assists for New York in the Game Four win. New York also got 20+ points from the trio of Karl-Anthony Towns (23), Mikal Bridges (23) and OG Anonuby (20). Towns also pulled down 11 rebounds, he has recorded six straight double-doubles in the playoffs. Jayson Tatum finished with 42 points (16-28 FG, 7-16 3Pt, 3-3 FT), 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks before exiting the game with the injury.

With Jayson Tatum out for the remainder of the postseason, Boston could receive a significant boost from sharpshooter Sam Hauser, who is listed as probable for tonight’s contest. Hauser left Game One with an ankle injury and missed the last 3 games. He fell out of the rotation against Orlando in the opening round playoff series, but averaged 8.5 ppg and shot 41.6 percent from long distance in 71 games during the regular season. Hauser is a career 42 percent three-point shooter over his four NBA seasons.  

TOP PERFORMERS IN THE SERIES

For New York, two-time All-Star Jalen Brunson is averaging 28 points, 7.8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3.5 threes, while shooting 43.2 percent from the floor and 41.2 percent from long distance. Brunson continues to elevate his level of play in the postseason for New York. He averaged 31.5 points and 8.2 assists against Detroit in the first round. Five-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns is averaging 19.8 points and 14.5 rebounds on 50 percent shooting from the floor. Both players were selected as All-Star game starters this year. 

For Boston, six-time All-Star Jayson Tatum averaged 25 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2.8 steals, 1 block and 4.3 threes against New York. Tatum led Boston in points, rebounds, assists and steals in this series, and the entire postseason. His loss for the rest of the postseason — and possibly all of the 2025-26 season — is enormous for the Celtics. Boston’s chances of repeating as champions are not looking good at the moment.

Four-time All-Star Jaylen Brown is averaging 20.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.8 threes against New York. Boston will now rely heavily on Brown with Jayson Tatum no longer available. Brown is more than capable of accepting a larger scoring/usage role as he was named the NBA Finals MVP last year and has averaged at least 20 points per game for 6 straight seasons in the regular season, and 5 straight in the postseason. 

THE PICK: CELTICS (-4.5)

Despite being without their superstar for tonight’s game, I think Boston will give an inspired effort against New York. The Celtics did beat Orlando in Game 2 of their first-round series without Tatum and they went 8-2 during the regular season sans Tatum. The Celtics still possess a lot of offensive firepower outside of Tatum, and the home crowd should give them a huge boost tonight. Lay the Points and take the Celtics!