Disaster. USAID Celebs Jinx Knicks. Tatum, White, Pritchard ON FIRE. Boston 131 NY 104

February 10, 2025 LouV 2024-25 0
Jalen Brunson was one of the few Knicks to take it to Boston, with 36 pts. Photo courtesy NY Knicks.

The Knicks had 3 games off to prepare for this game — against the Celtics on a Saturday night at Madison Square Garden on National TV (ABC). Going in the Knicks were 7.5 behind Cleveland and Boston was 6 back.

NY started slow — making mistakes; seemingly trying too hard — and fell behind by 18 points in the 2nd quarter. But NY pulled to within 13 at the half and took it to Boston early in the 3rd to pull within 3 points at 70-67.

And then ABC — tone deaf — showed USAID-sponsored Hollywood ‘celebrities’ on the MSG sidelines celebrating — and it seemed to jinx the Knicks.

A play later, the Knick defense stymied Boston as Derrick White got off a misguided 3 attempt as the 24-second clock was expiring — but the refs ruled Miles McBride had fouled him. A phantom foul it seemed on the replay but NY didn’t challenge and White hit 3 free throws.

That seemed to turn the momentum — and soon Jayson Tatum was ON FIRE — hitting 3’s from the parking lot. Derrick White joined him, and in the 4th quarter Payton Pritchard joined them both as Boston hit 3 after 3 after 3 and the Knicks missed and missed.

Blowout.

Disaster.

“You learn from every game,” said coach Tom Thibodeau afterwards. “The disappointment of a loss, but make sure we learn from it. Obviously we have to take a hard look and get better.”

“The rebounding was problematic to start, it was problematic throughout,” added Thibs. “I thought sometimes there were some good initial sequences, then they hurt us with the second shot.”

NY falls to 34-18; Boston improves to 37-16.

1. Knicks In Mud to Start; Boston Goes up by 18 in 2nd

The Knicks started off Slowly — seemingly trying to hard and making a lot of unforced errors throughout the 1st half. Boston clogged up the middle with former Knick Luke Kornet starting at center, and Al Horford at power forward.

Kornet

Kornet blocked shots and went 7-7 from the floor on the night for 14 pts and a +21 in 29 minutes. He seemed special when the Knicks had him — in both the G League and with NY — and now he is the starting center on the defending champ Celtics (although that is due to Kristaps Porzingis being out).

“We didn’t come out great, we were stagnant,” said Josh Hart afterwards. “They had Kornet and Horford kind of hogging up the paint. And we didn’t execute.”

Pritchard

Boston’s Payton Pritchard was lighting up the Knicks and Miles McBride who was guarding him. Pritchard went 9-13 (6-8 from 3) for 25 pts on the evening. Meanwhile McBride was missing, missing, missing (1-8 from the floor for the evening, 1-5 from 3 for 8 pts), as was Mikal Bridges (5-15 for 11 pts).

Knick Defenders Lacked Height

OG Anunoby was out for NY with the foot sprain and they could have used him and his defense and his height against the 6’8 Jayson Tatum. With the 6’6 Mikal Bridges giving up 2 inches to Tatum, NY had Precious Achiuwa on Tatum at times.

Worse the Knicks were coughing up the ball left and right — Josh Hart a culprit multiple times as were other Knicks. It seemed they were trying too hard.

2. KAT Thwarted by Queta

Karl-Anthony Towns meanwhile had only 9 points on 3-8 shooting on the evening (2-2 from 3) with 9 rebounds in 28 minutes. He had 4 fouls and was stymied inside by 7-foot Neemias Queta. The 25-year-old Queta played 26 strong minutes — giving KAT and other Knicks trouble inside. He had 11 pts on 4-7 shooting, 8 rebounds, and a block. He was a 2nd round pick by Sacramento in 2021.

As NBA Analyst Ross Kreines summed up, “Neemias Queta always stays ready and may play limited minutes but with those limited minutes he rewards the Celtics with his motor, effort, activity on the glass, sets good screens creating space for others, defends, finishes around rim while knowing his role and bringing his hardhat.”

3. Knicks Down 13 at Half

NY finally settled down late in the 2nd quarter and Jalen Brunson started attacking the rim over and over again — cutting the 18-pt deficit down to 13 points at the half.

4. Knicks Pull to Within 3 in 3rd

The Knicks finally started to play like the Knicks in the 3rd quarter — the defense started to knuckle down, and the Knicks got into the open court, with Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mikal Bridges finally starting to score in rhythm.

A Mikal Bridges 3 pulled NY to within 70-67 with 6:52 left in the 3rd quarter. It was a brand new game.

5. USAID Celeb Jinx; White 3 Free Throws Turn Momentum

As Bridges hit his 3 on the break, MSG erupted and the ABC cameras swung to Hollywood celebs on the sidelines, celebrating — the last thing many in the audience want to see these days with all of the USAID revelations this week — which specifically mentioned some of the celebs on the sidelines taking multi-million-dollar bribes to give political endorsements.

And that seemed to Jinx New York. A Jason Tatum dunk put Boston back up 5, and on the next play, Knick defense suffocated Boston for 24 seconds, causing Derrick White to heave up a miss from 3 as the 24-second clock expired. Deuce McBride, guarding him, was careful to step to the side as White threw up the prayer. But the refs called McBride for a foul — and the Knicks protested verbally but didn’t challenge the call.

White made 3 free throws and Boston was back up 8.

6. Tatum, White, & Pritchard ON FIRE from 3

And then Derrick White hit a 3, Jayson Tatum was fouled by Precious Achiuwa while he took a 3 — and hit all free throws, and White hit another 3, and then Tatum hit another 3. Boston back up by 19 points — a 19-3 run.

Tatum hit ANOTHER 3 before the end of the quarter to put Boston up by 22.

Cameron Payne came out and gave the Knicks energy and buckets to start the 4th quarter — he finished with 14 pts on 6-10 shooting and was a bright spot for NY.

But it soon got worse for the Knicks — Tatum hit ANOTHER 3 from the parking lot, and pretty soon Payton Pritchet was at it again, hitting 3 after 3 — the rout was on.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401705314

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