Celtics could capitalize on rival's dysfunction in the playoffs

On a recent edition of Run It Back on FanDuel TV, Lou Williams floated the possibility of opponents messing with Karl-Anthony Towns and the New York Knicks.

It has been a roller coaster season for them. They're third in the Eastern Conference. It's a testament to what it looks like when things are clicking for New York. However, there are also disastrous stretches, where the Knicks appear dysfunctional.

When they're going through the latter, Towns often seems disconnected from the team. He'll go stretches where he hardly touches the ball. It also tends to be when his defense is the most problematic.

Lou Williams's advice to the Knicks' potential playoff foes

Towns is far from the only one to point to when New York's experiencing a rough patch. However, the six-time All-Star, who wears his emotions on his sleeve, is at the eye of the storm.

That's why Williams suggested, "If it looks like I'm a potential matchup for the Knicks, I'm putting [expletive] in the air. I'm like, 'Hey, they [are] not happy, KAT don't know his role. The same thing Jason Kidd did to the Boston Celtics. Gotta put some doubt in the back of their mind."

What the three-time Sixth Man of the Year winner is referencing is when Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd tried to stir the pot during the NBA Finals. He declared at media day that Jaylen Brown was the best player on the Celtics.

Whether that was true or not was irrelevant. His goal was to create friction between Brown, Jayson Tatum, and any of their teammates who might be willing to pick a side.

The problem for Kidd was that his intentions were transparent. Boston brushed aside his comments, well aware of what he was trying to do. The Celtics' focus was on winning a championship, and the Mavericks' bench boss wasn't going to distract them from that.

However, given the lack of cohesion that sometimes exists between Towns and his teammates, this underhanded tactic could yield more fruitful results against the Knicks.

"You don't want to give a team ammunition to attack you," stated Williams. "So, I appreciate the high road. I appreciate him handling it like a professional, and not throwing his coach under the bus, and not throwing his teammates under the bus. But you've got to keep your cards close to your chest, man, especially at this point of the season.

"In no stretch of the imagination can you say right now, I'm still trying to figure my role out, and I've got less than 11-12 games to play in this season, where we going into a postseason, where we [are] supposed to be a well-oiled machine, going into it, and feeling really good about our opportunity."

Interestingly enough, the Celtics and Knicks appear like they're on a collision course to face each other in the second round of the playoffs again. Boston's currently second in the East with New York one spot behind them.

A move like this doesn't seem like the Celtics' M.O. However, it could be effective. Perhaps that influences the Knicks' first-round opponent to take Williams's advice.