The Boston Celtics’ hopes of repeating as NBA champions took a significant hit this week after dropping a pair of home games to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Celtics have put themselves in the record books for all the wrong reasons so far in this series against New York.
As noted by Celtics stats guru Dick Lipe, Boston is the first team in playoff history during the play-by-play era (since 1996-97) to lose twice in a single postseason after leading by 20 points.
Several factors have loomed large over Boston’s recent track record of letting go of the rope in the second half against New York — be it poor 3-point shooting or questionable coaching calls by Joe Mazzula.