The New York Knicks just beat the Detroit Pistons in six games, but when asked if that series prepared them to take on the Boston Celtics, Jalen Brunson kept his answer brutally honest: “Obviously, we’re playing against the defending champs next time. So, it’s going to be a lot different,” he said post-game on Thursday night.
“Playing this team, that we just played, I’m not discrediting them at all—they have experience. The Celtics have experience. Playing these guys, they were just physical. They brought the fight to us, and then, we had to respond. And then we did. But every series is going to be different, you got to respect each opponent you play, and you got to go from there and make adjustments. But everything is different.”
Boston will be a much different beast than Detroit.
Jalen Brunson knows Celtics will be a much tougher opponent
Outside of their Game 1 victory, in which a monster fourth quarter from Cam Payne helped the Knicks pull ahead, every game of the first round was within six points. And the final four games of the series finished with the final score within three.
It was a tough, physical series that saw the Pistons give the Knicks a real run for their money. And even in Game 1, the Pistons were up by as many as nine points during the contest. Outside of going to a Game 7, this was as close a series as there can be.
Now, the Knicks have to play the Celtics. A team they went 0-4 against during the regular season. A team that has the personnel to absolutely pick apart the Knicks’ defense.
Boston won the championship last year, and the Knicks were bounced in the second round by the Indiana Pacers, who eventually lost to the Celtics in the Eastern conference finals.
New York responded to their playoff exit by making big-time moves. They traded for Mikal Bridges over the summer and added Karl-Anthony Towns right before the season started. But those moves didn’t do much in their matchups against the Celtics during the regular season.
In fact, the addition of Towns seriously hurt the Knicks’ ability to defend the Celtics, as he and Brunson are awful at guarding the pick-and-roll. Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis take advantage of that regularly.
Brunson and the Knicks know what lies ahead of them. Their series against the Pistons was a grueling one. And their lives are about to get much, much harder.