Hopefully, Saturday received’t be a repeat of opening night time.
That’s when the Celtics, contemporary off their championship celebration, buried the Knicks beneath an avalanche of threes in a humiliating 132-109 season-opening blowout in Boston.
However these aren’t the identical Knicks — at the least, that’s what they’re out to show in Saturday’s rematch at Madison Sq. Backyard.
“It’s the next test,” head coach Tom Thibodeau stated after Friday’s observe in Tarrytown. “It’s about understanding how you prepare for each game — what are the strengths and weaknesses of the team? We have to know them well. Obviously, they’re a dangerous team. They are the defending champion. So we have to be ready to play 48 minutes of really good basketball.”
The Celtics have been the category of the NBA all season, led by perennial All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Their five-out offense surrounds the ground with deadly three-point shooters always. Their backcourt — Jrue Vacation and Derrick White — is a nightmare defensively. Their bigs, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford, shield the rim and stretch the ground with effectivity.
They’re reigning champions for a cause.
And but, a lot has modified for the Knicks since opening night time. They enter Saturday trailing Boston by only one recreation within the loss column for the No. 2 seed within the Jap Convention.
Greater than only a measuring stick recreation, it’s a chance.
“It’s another stepping stone for us to see where we are,” stated Jalen Brunson. “Each game is a test for us to see where we can improve and get better. When a team wins [a title] the way they did, everyone’s chasing them. So there’s a lot of respect for Boston around the league.”
That respect now extends each methods. New York (34-17) is not only a scrappy, overachieving group. They’re a professional power, simply 1.5 video games again of the Celtics (36-16), and a top-two seed is inside attain.
“Obviously, you always want to get the best [playoff] position possible, but every game, you treat it as if they were Boston Celtics,” stated Karl-Anthony Cities. “I’ve said it before: If you treat any game like it’s not the Boston Celtics or the Cavaliers, then you’re doing yourself an injustice. We take every game seriously.”
Opening night time was a wake-up name for a Knicks group nonetheless in flux. That loss got here simply weeks after the blockbuster commerce that despatched Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota for Cities. It was a roster nonetheless studying tips on how to play collectively, going up in opposition to a championship group that had spent the summer season fine-tuning its title-winning formulation.
Saturday presents a brand new problem. And this time, the Knicks are much better outfitted to fulfill it.
“We’re a different team, just understanding each other, continuity, understanding where our strengths are,” Cities stated. “And we’re just a different mindset as a team as well. We have familiarity with each other. There’s been time with each other now to kind of cultivate a culture.”
“I think the challenge is when you have as many guys as we did to get them to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each other, learning a new system and to focus on that improvement. I’d say offensively it’s been steady throughout. And defensively the same thing,” Thibodeau added. “To understand what goes into winning — defense, your rebounding, keeping your turnovers down, attacking the rim and sharing the ball. I’d say we’ve been pretty good at these things.”
