BOSTON — The Boston Celtics had one final probability to grab momentum early within the fourth quarter of a irritating Sunday afternoon towards the New York Knicks. Baylor Scheierman hustled to trace down an extended rebound, then sprinted to the left nook and drilled a 3-pointer. On his method again down the court docket, he clapped his arms collectively and screamed.
The TD Backyard crowd roared with Scheierman for a second, however the pleasure ended abruptly. The Celtics stopped the Knicks, however couldn’t attain halfcourt earlier than operating into yet one more setback in a 111-89 loss filled with them. Jaylen Brown had his pocket picked by Jose Alvarado, who transformed a layup moments later.
“We’ve performed nice basketball for a very long time on this small stretch and have taken the sport to that stage of physicality and execution (wanted towards nice groups),” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “Tonight wasn’t our greatest.”
Regardless of the lopsided end result in a playoff rematch, the Celtics didn’t overreact. Brown believed they managed many of the areas they wanted to. He pointed to the job they did on the glass, the place they’d twice as many offensive rebounds because the Knicks, and in dealing with the basketball with solely 10 turnovers. Nonetheless, Brown acknowledged, the Celtics want to search out their rhythm once more after buying Nikola Vučević earlier than the commerce deadline. Boston shot simply 37 p.c from the sector, together with 17.1 p.c on 3-point makes an attempt.
“We bought to determine the chemistry a little bit bit, the circulate a little bit bit,” Brown mentioned. “We would like Vuc to be a little bit bit extra aggressive, on the lookout for him to get going and make him really feel assured in taking these photographs and the place he can catch the ball. I feel he’s nonetheless studying, however we’d like him to be aggressive. So we’ll make changes, we’ll talk, we’ll watch movie, and we’ll be higher for it.”
The Vučević commerce has introduced on different modifications for the Celtics rotation. Payton Pritchard has come off the bench in each recreation because the staff despatched Anfernee Simons to the Chicago Bulls as a part of the deal. In every of the final three video games, Mazzulla has began a giant lineup with Neemias Queta and Luka Garza alongside one another. That duo had solely performed three minutes collectively all season earlier than this stretch, however Mazzulla desires to work in greater lineups now that he has one other sturdy frontcourt possibility in Vučević.
“The identical as we’ve achieved (with the beginning lineup) the entire 12 months,” Mazzulla mentioned. “We’ve tinkered with all of it 12 months. I feel we’re as much as 15 or 17 completely different ones, so nothing’s modified. All people on our roster has an opportunity to influence successful. Now we have an opportunity to develop, do various things there, so whether or not earlier than or after the commerce deadline, nothing modifications in our strategy.”
Knicks coach Mike Brown believes the lineup flexibility Vucevic gives might be helpful.
“It’s going to assist them so much,” Brown mentioned. “They’ve bought three huge guys now, to allow them to match up numerous other ways with numerous completely different opponents.”
That is perhaps the case, however the Celtics nonetheless want to determine tips on how to incorporate a method they hadn’t even experimented with a lot earlier than. For the second straight recreation, they’d a sluggish offensive begin. They shot simply 34.6 p.c from the sector within the first quarter whereas lacking 11 of their 13 3-point makes an attempt.
With the rotation modifications, the Celtics’ second-ranked offense may wish time to readjust.
“We’re enjoying a little bit completely different,” mentioned Derrick White. “Clearly bought some new guys in new spots, so I wouldn’t say we’re as crisp as we have been possibly a number of weeks in the past after we’d had the offseason and starting of the 12 months to sort of determine these components out. However I feel it’s thrilling that we will proceed to be taught, develop and simply perceive it’s gonna take daily, and get guys comfy, get guys in the correct spots. And we’ve bought numerous guys that know tips on how to play, so I feel we’ll choose it up shortly.”
Scheierman had a productive outing with 10 factors, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. However even he shot simply 2 for 7 behind the arc — and he was one of many higher Celtics shooters on the day. The remainder of the starters mixed to shoot 3-for-16 from 3. The bench mixed to shoot 10-for-29 from the sector, together with 2-for-18 from downtown.
White mentioned his staff must discover ways to adapt to new defensive coverages.
“Clearly, you get guarded many alternative methods, and including Vuc, you’ve bought an entire completely different method individuals are guarding him,” White mentioned. “So that you need to break down these eventualities, however you additionally need to sort of be free, not assume on the market and sort of react. So that you’ve bought to search out that stability of watching the movie coming in, engaged on completely different eventualities, and also you’ve additionally bought to let individuals sort of determine it out on their very own. So it’s sort of robust on the fly, however we’re two, three video games in.”
Within the lead-up to the sport, Brown didn’t conceal the significance of the showdown with the Knicks. He introduced it up himself Friday night time when discussing the TD Backyard atmosphere for Vučević’s Celtics debut.
“Sunday goes to be a giant matchup,” Brown mentioned. “So we’d like the followers to have the identical power. So I’m wanting ahead to it.”
Even with that a lot pleasure beforehand, Brown was level-headed after the defeat.
“It got here all the way down to the offensive finish, the place we simply needed to make some photographs,” Brown mentioned. “Scoring 89 factors (is) not gonna get it achieved. We gotta determine tips on how to put that ball within the cup.”
