With very few exceptions, no one expected the Knicks to leave Boston up 2-0, especially not after New York was trailing by 20 points in both games before the team’s furious comebacks and wins in the final seconds of both games.
Knicks fans are absolutely delirious with the team’s victories and can’t wait for the team to take the floor at the Garden on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Boston fans are stunned, frustrated and angry over the two consecutive losses
Everyone has their takes and theories on why the Knicks have a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
Jayson Tatum is still hurt.
Porzingis isn’t 100%.
The Celtics live and die by the three-point shot, and right now they’re dying by it.
All of those reasons are true, but the main reason why the Celtics find themselves in a 0-2 hole is simple.
It’s because of the Knicks.
NBA fans thought Boston’s regular-season sweep of the Knicks would carry over to the playoffs. Others thought Tatum and Jaylen Brown would be too much for the Knicks to overcome.
But they fail to realize that the Knicks team we’re all watching was built specifically to beat Boston.
It started last June when the team traded away five first-round picks to Brooklyn for Mikal Bridges in June, a move that some decried as a fleecing by the Nets.
A few days later, the team signed OG Anunoby to a five-year, $212.5 million deal in June, the largest deal in team history.
Four months later, the Knicks traded Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns, stunning and upsetting fans anxiously waiting to see the Nova Knicks take the court for a run at the title.
The early results were mixed as superstar Jalen Brunson and KAT weren’t meshing and Bridges looked lost at times. Then, when injuries started to arise, critics pounced on head coach Tom Thibodeau and accused him of making his stars play too many minutes.
But the team still finished third overall in the Eastern Conference and would face a young, feisty Detroit Pistons team in the first round.
While that series was exciting and nail-biting, the Knicks prevailed thanks to Captain Crunchtime, Jalen Brunson.
