The Knicks upset the Celtics in dramatic fashion in Game 1, winning a 108-105 overtime thriller that few people, outside of the Knicks' locker room, saw coming. But that game is history now. As head coach Tom Thibodeau said, "No matter what happens, you don't carry it over into the next game - you have to reset and be ready to do it all over again."
While the sentiment of what Thibodeau said is true, you need to have a short memory in the playoffs in many ways, the Knicks will obviously revisit the film and carry over some of what worked to Game 2. One of those things, which could lead to another upset, is forcing the Celtics to continue to play isolation basketball.
The Knicks defense forced Tatum and Brown to Iso
One of the biggest keys to the Knicks' Game 1 victory was switching everything on the perimeter. It was a new wrinkle that Thibodeau introduced at exactly the right time.
I say introduced because the Knicks rarely switched during the regular season. In Game 1, they switched 33 times on pick-and-rolls, leading to an increased number of isolation possessions.
In the regular season, teams averaged 0.9 points per possession in isolation. Boston, which was the sixth-most efficient isolation team, still only generated 0.96 points per possession. Now compare that to a different play type, like spot-up possessions. In the regular season, teams averaged 1.05 points per possession when spotting up. The Celtics averaged a league-leading 1.15 points per possession on spot-ups.
Because isolation plays are relatively low in efficiency, teams don't rely heavily on them. In the regular season, the Clippers were the most iso-dominant team in the league, and it only made up 12 percent of their offensive possessions.
By switching on defense it encouraged the Celtics to rely more on these isolation plays. In Game 1, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 29 isolation possessions, tied for the ninth-most this season by the All-NBA pair. The results were fantastic for the Knicks, as Boston generated only 0.76 points per possession on those plays.
The Knicks switched on defense, and Boston played a lot of ISO as a result pic.twitter.com/NIeEjxDX9f
— AOP_NBA (@aop_nba) May 7, 2025
Continue to switch!
The returns were too good for the Knicks not to deploy the same strategy in Game 2. There will be times where Mitchell Robinson gets switched onto Tatum and looks like a deer with rollerskates on, it is almost inevitable.
Similarly, the scheme could get the Knicks' bigs into foul trouble again. In fact, Tatum and Brown could get hot and start dominating the game in isolation, and regular-season efficiency numbers could become irrelevant. All of those things could happen, and the Knicks could simply adjust.
However, to start the game. The Knicks should carry over what they learned from Game 1 and use it to try to shock the world again.