The Celtics went against the Knicks deliberately shorthanded (lacking Tatum, Brown, Smart, Walker, Rob Williams, Fournier and Thompson) and lost by a thin margin, 96-92. This result meant little for the Celtics with the play-in already guaranteed.
Q1 was a battle mostly consisting of jump shots. Despite the significant talent disparity between them and the home squad, who had Julius Randle and their other usual starters, Boston kept it close against New York. It honestly looked like a decent, entertaining game at first—hell, the Celtics led 24-23 at the end of the frame. Then the second quarter happened. Players who’d started strong, like Payton Pritchard, went cold before long, as did Carsen Edwards (despite starting the frame looking decent). The Knicks locked in defensively and turned up the offensive octane to get far ahead of the Cs. On the backs of RJ Barrett and Randle, New York jumped to a 54-39 lead.
Things were a bit better in the second half. Because this game was garbage time en masse, Jabari Parker naturally roared to life on offense, and the Knicks didn’t know what to do against him. (He ended the game with a team-high 18 points, plus 7 boards and 2 dimes.) Between this, some well-placed triples and amped-up defensive effort, Boston winnowed the lead down close to single digits, 77-65 at the end of three quarters.
For much of Q4, it looked like the hole the Cs had gotten themselves in during the second quarter would be too to overcome. (Stop me if you’ve heard that before.) But around the halfway point, an impressive surge led by Tremont Waters, Romeo Langford and Edwards cut the New York lead down to 6, then 4, then 2. Then 1. (Waters and Langford ended the game with their season-highs in points, 17 and 14 respectively.) An impressive steal by Edwards gave Boston a chance at a tie. Unfortunately, resistance from the superior Knicks and a mistaken knee-jerk foul by Langford (which put the home team into the bonus) ended the Celtics’ season in a narrow defeat.
Some tweets, highlights, jokes and whatnot below, starting with Pritchard almost making a milestone:
Payton Pritchard just moved into 2nd place on the Celtics' all-time rookie 3PM list with his 101st make. He's four away from Jayson Tatum's record of 105.
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) May 16, 2021
(Pritchard would finish the game with an ominous line: six points, six rebounds and six assists.)
https://twitter.com/el_dude_/status/1393980613808508935?s=20
takes it + makes it pic.twitter.com/siUdNc3RQQ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 16, 2021
Carsen doing what needs to be done 👌 pic.twitter.com/RWIPXD4N8G
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 16, 2021
But it was not to last, at least not in the first half:
The Celtics scored their 39th point of the half at the 3:07 mark and didn't score again. 12-0 Knicks since then n
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) May 16, 2021
scoring is hard
— david (@whaamncheese) May 16, 2021
Kornet with the denial and Grant on target from 3 on the other end#Celtics Rewind presented by @tmobile pic.twitter.com/1csuBozqH4
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) May 16, 2021
if ojeleye records a block in game 72 i will scream
— Neon Genesis Evan Fournier (@Neon_Jeremy) May 16, 2021
Well, Kornet did; this one was pretty cool:
K🚫RNET 🙅 pic.twitter.com/PCdXAQCiIu
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 16, 2021
Summer Celts playing hard after getting down by 20 just like the big club
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) May 16, 2021
Down but not out 👌 pic.twitter.com/0fPXioEfRH
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 16, 2021
Oh well. They went out swinging, and in a mathematically insignificant game, I can appreciate that.
The Celtics aren't giving up without a fight after this alley-oop from Tremont to Kornet
"#Celtics Rewind presented by @tmobile pic.twitter.com/kUbvaC5cwX
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) May 16, 2021
🔨 still in this pic.twitter.com/LRh4vVOwJC
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 16, 2021
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