After logging back-to-back "best wins of the season," the Celtics laid an egg for what might've been their worst loss of the campaign, falling to the New York Knicks 111-89
Here's what stood out:
Do not expect the Celtics to make threes in the first half
Through the first two games of this current homestand, the Celtics have now shot a combined 6-42 from beyond the arc. Their ice-cold shooting was a large reason why they found themselves so far behind the Miami Heat at Friday’s halftime buzzer. Sunday’s opening 24 minutes were a similar story.
Boston made just five of their first 22 attempts from long range, despite creating plenty of clean looks.
Or maybe… at all?
At least on Friday, the Celtics turned it around and got hot for a bit. There was no such stretch in Sunday’s loss to the Knicks. Regardless of how many open shots Boston created, they weren’t able to convert -- making for an infuriating watch for fans everywhere.
When the final buzzer souned, they'd made just seven of their 40 attempts from distance.
Simply not good enough.
The double big lineups are not it… yet
Since acquiring Nikola Vucevic ahead of Thursday’s NBA Trade Deadline, Joe Mazzulla has leaned heavily into double-big lineups. Luka Garza has now started alongside Neemias Queta in each of the three teams since Anfernee Simons’ departure.
So far, not so good.
Maybe it’s the kind of things that improve with time, but for now, there’s clearly a cluttered feeling anytime two of Garza, Queta, and Vucevic share the floor.
It doesn’t help that neither of the shooting bigs has shot well since Mazzulla made the change.
Teams haven’t been afraid to help off of Vucevic or Garza enough for them to provide reliable spacing, and again, they haven’t done a good enough job of making the opposition pay.
This two-game sample size isn't enough to tell you that it'll never work, but it hasn't been pretty thus far. Maybe the All-Star break will do the team some justice.
Baylor Scheierman is a board man
This, overall, was an annoying game to watch. Boston struggled to create momentum all afternoon and never quite made a great push to challenge the Knicks.
Baylor Scheierman, however, gave them a tremendous effort. He spent his minutes defending with everything he had and putting a strong focus on crashing the glass.
By the end of the first half, the second-year man had already ripped down nine rebounds. Not to mention that he guarded Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns on multiple possessions and stuck with both men quite well.
He finished the day with a double-double, logging 10 points, 13 rebounds, and five assists.