The New York Post's Stefan Bondy caught the spirit of down-bad Knicks fans perfectly with his recap of the Boston Celtics' 133-123 December 8 victory at the TD Garden -- summing it up perfectly with the black-pilled headline, 'Knicks smoked by Celtics as Jalen Brunson limps off in closing seconds.'
"The gap between Knicks and the Celtics has only seemed to widen," Bondy began in his lede before saying, "New York’s latest defeat to its rival Friday night was worse than the 133-123 final score, a drubbing at TD Garden that included a late injury to Jalen Brunson and reinforced the Knicks’ middling position on the Eastern Conference’s totem pole."
Any injury to Brunson would be worthy of pessimism in the Big Apple, with the Knicks' best player leading the charge with 24.8 points on a 46/44/80 shooting slash to go with 5.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and a steal per game. Here's hoping his injury isn't severe enough to keep him out of the two teams' next matchup on February 24; or keep him out of any games at all.
Boston Celtics own Knicks but have serious Pacers problem
The Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks are of no worry to the Celtics just yet. If either gets aggressive at the trade deadline we can revisit that thought, but as is, Boston is superior to both; hence the 3-0 record this season.
But the Indiana Pacers are undoubtedly the biggest problem for the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference. Tyrese Haliburton, at the MVP level he's playing at, combined with a shooting-heavy roster filled with guys who can step up on any given night if armed with the hot hand, is one of the most unstoppable forces in the league right now. Boston learned that the hard way during the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals.
Indiana is who the Celtics need to lose sleep over. As stated before and surely to be stated again, it's not the Knicks.