There was no miraculous comeback this time for the Knicks, who fell 93 to 115 in Game 3 to the Boston Celtics. The Knicks looked lifeless from the start, while the Celtics looked like a team whose life depended on winning. Without a historic comeback to mask it, the Knicks' lethargic offense was on full display.
It was more of the same problems for New York; their offense had nothing going in the first half, and unlike the first two games, when they historically erased 20-point deficits in both games, they had no late magic this time. The Celtics led by at least 20 points for the entire fourth quarter, before Tom Thibodeau emptied his bench with three minutes to play.
Just as had been the case in Game 2, the Knicks struggled greatly from three, shooting 20 percent for the game. Unlike Game 2, the Celtics caught fire from three, draining 20 threes on 50 percent shooting.
The Celtics' All-NBA duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown both looked more comfortable than they had for much of the first two games of the series, specifically Tatum. While Tatum struggled from two, shooting only 27.3 percent, he drained five threes on 55.6 percent shooting.
The Knicks were also sloppy with the basketball once again. They had 11 turnovers, including six passing turnovers, after having 16 in Game 2. When they weren't turning the ball over, it wasn't moving around the floor very much. Their 16 assists led to 35 points, while Boston had 23, leading to 60 points.
On top of that, their defense didn't play with the same effort and energy that had given Boston headaches through the earlier games. They also went away from schemes that had proven to disrupt Boston's 3-point shooting through the first couple of games.
Going away from what was working
Part of the Knicks' strategy in the first two games was having their centers switch all ball screens, in an effort to keep their defense out of rotation and force the Celtics to play isolation basketball. In the first quarter, Karl-Anthony Towns was in drop on multiple occasions, two of which resulted in threes for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
In Games 1 and 2, the Celtics generated less than 1 point per direct pick in both games. In Game 2, they generated only 0.73 points per direct pick, their lowest in any game of the playoffs and sixth-lowest in any game this season.
When the tracking data comes out for Game 3, it will be interesting to see just how often the Knicks were in drop coverage. Even when they weren't, Towns wasn't up at the level as strongly as he needed to be, and often looked late contesting threes.
Knicks need to find consistent offense
Everyone knew the Celtics wouldn't struggle offensively all series. They are too talented on that end of the floor, and too good of a shooting team to continue to miss as many threes as they did in the first two games. Now that they seem to have woken up, the Knicks will need to find a way to respond in Game 4.
It can't just be Brunson, either. The Knicks have gotten good stretches from OG Anunoby, Towns, and Mikal Bridges at different points, but they will need strong efforts from all of them if they want to take this series.
In Game 3, Brunson had 27 points. The Knicks' next highest scorer was Towns, who added 21 points but only shot 27.8 percent from the field. Anunoby and Bridges combined to score only seven points, which is simply not enough to get the job done.
The Knicks have proved to be resilient these playoffs, they will be tested once again. The doubters will be loud, and the Knicks will need to shut them up once again.