The Celtics have bogged down. An offense that blitzed the NBA, scoring 120.2 points per 100 non-garbage-time possessions during the regular season and 120 points-per-100 in its five-game postseason-opening victory over the Magic, has ground to a halt against the Knicks, producing a measly 99.5 points-per-100 across two games — both of which, in case you missed it, Boston lost after squandering massive leads.
Whether you attribute that primarily to Boston’s players just missing shots they’ve made all season, to the Knicks’ sudden shift to switching ball screens forcing the Celtics out of their comfort zone, to their stars lacking some ineffable clutch gene, or a little bit of all of the above, at a time like this, you’d imagine the C’s would love to get something easy.