Karl-Anthony Towns racks up 26 points and 13 rebounds in a 105-95 Knicks win over the Celtics.
NEW YORK – This is the Knicks’ series now.
Midway through the third quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals back in May, the defending champion Boston Celtics had a 20-point lead over the New York Knicks, having won eight of the last nine head-to-head meetings. But then came a miraculous Knicks comeback, which was followed by another two nights later in Game 2. Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles in Game 4 and the Knicks won the series in six. Boston broke up its championship roster over the summer and here we are.
Suddenly, the Knicks are one of the favorites and the Celtics are on a lower tier in the Eastern Conference. Things went according to (the new) script on Friday, when New York cruised to a 105-95 victory on in the second game of the season for both teams.
It’s kind of amazing how this rivalry turned on a dime.
Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film as the Knicks improved to 2-0 and the Celtics fell to 0-2 on the season:
1. Knicks win the possession game
Prior to the game, both teams’ coaches spoke to the importance of getting more shots than your opponent, primarily with the pursuit of offensive rebounds.
“[Teams] understand that it’s about the possession game,” said Knicks coach Mike Brown. “Because everybody is so talented offensively. You just got to try to find ways to generate more possessions.”
“How can we find different ways to win the shot margin?” asked Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla. “Get more possessions, get more shots.”
And with both teams weathering below-average shooting nights, the Knicks were the team dominating the glass, despite the absence of Mitchell Robinson, their best offensive rebounder.
New York grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, the most for any team in a game this season. In total, the Knicks grabbed 60.4% of available rebounds, what would have been their fourth-best mark in 100 total games (regular season + playoffs) last season. In a 10-point game, second chance points were 21-7 in favor of the Knicks, who have now had eight more shooting opportunities than their opponent in each of their first two games.
The Celtics still have some talent on their roster, but almost all of that talent is on the perimeter, and interior play may continue to be an issue throughout the season. There was also a huge discrepancy (22-10) at the free throw line on Friday.
2. Hart begins potential Sixth Man of the Year campaign
With the 7-foot Robinson out, the Knicks’ best offensive rebounder is 6-foot-sd5 Josh Hart, who made his season debut on Friday.
While New York made a change to its starting lineup, it wasn’t Hart who replaced Ariel Hukporti and moved Karl-Anthony Towns to center. It was Miles McBride, with Hart coming off the bench in a regular-season game for the first time since January 2024.
With the assumption that Robinson (who’s missed both games) will be a regular starter when healthy, Hart has been a fashionable pick to win the Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year award, even though that’s typically reserved for scorers, like new teammate Jordan Clarkson. Hart has averaged only 11.3 points per game during his 2 1/2 seasons with the Knicks.
Hart scored just two points on 1-for-8 shooting off the bench on Friday, and the Knicks were outscored by two points in his 19 minutes. But he grabbed 14 rebounds, with six of them coming on the offensive glass. When the Knicks weren’t shooting well, Hart kept possessions alive with his typical, relentless pursuit of the ball.
“A monster, monster, monster,” Brown said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this before, 14 rebounds in 19 minutes. Just a phenomenal, phenomenal game, doing the dirty stuff.”
At the end of the first half, he grabbed an offensive board and found OG Anunoby for a wide-open 3-pointer to cap off the Knicks’ 42-14 second quarter.
Midway through the fourth, when the Knicks’ 24-point lead had been cut to 10, Hart checked in after a timeout. And on the very next possession, he grabbed two offensive boards, with the second leading to a Brunson layup that put the Knicks back up 12.
Later in the fourth, Hart airballed a wide-open corner 3-pointer and then appeared to reinjure his surgically-repaired right hand when he tried to block a shot on the ensuing transition sequence.
Opponents will give him open shots all season long, and there will be big possessions when the ball is in his hands with the shot clock winding down.
There will also be big possessions when he gives the Knicks multiple chances to score. If it comes down to the possession game, Hart is an asset.
3. Karl-Anthony Towns: Domantas Sabonis with 3-point range?
One of the changes Brown is bringing to the Knicks’ offense is Karl-Anthony Towns handling the ball more in the high post. We saw some of that on Friday, with Towns kinda, sorta in the role of Domantas Sabonis, the hub of Brown’s offense in Sacramento.
Towns had just three assists, but one (on the first possession of the second quarter) was a nice dime to a cutting OG Anunoby, who didn’t know the ball was coming until it was in his chest. On the next possession, we how Towns has a hub can get side-to-side movement. Tyler Kolek came from the right side off the floor, took a handoff, drew a weak-side defender, and found Anunoby for an open 3 in the left corner.
Earlier in the game, a slick pass from Towns to Anunoby resulted in an open 3 for Towns himself:
It’s early, but we can already see how the Knicks’ offense has more variety, which should make it much tougher to guard in the long run.
“He’s a threat from anywhere on the court,” Brunson said of Towns. “When you’re able to pop with someone with so much gravity, you’re playing off of it. He can read and react, if the defense overplays or not, he’s able to make plays like that.”
4. Hauser gets good looks in Spain
Overall, the Celtics scored just 95 points on 94 possessions, what would have been their sixth-worst offensive performance last season.
But one thing that worked multiple times was “Spain” or “stack” pick-and-roll, a standard high pick-and-roll action with an extra back-screen on the the defender of the initial screener. The Celtics ran the action early and often on Friday, and it resulted in some of their best offensive possessions of the day.
The Celtics ran it on their first possession of the night, though they disguised it a bit, first running something for Jaylen Brown on the side of the floor. The ball eventually got back to Payton Pritchard at the top, where Neemias Queta set a ball-screen. Sam Hauser then came up from the baseline to set a back-screen on Towns.
Towns was able to recover to Queta’s roll, but two Knicks went to the ball, leaving Hauser open beyond the arc:
The Celtics ran it again on the next possession and, this time, Queta was open under the basket.
When the game started to get away from them early in the second quarter, the Celtics were able to regain the lead briefly by running Spain two more times. The first time, Hauser popped open for another 3 near the top of the arc. Then, Anfernee Simons was able to get downhill, collapse the defense, and find Derrick White wide open in the left corner.
Spain is a pretty common action around the league these days, but it can still be difficult to defend.
John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Bluesky.
