Despite a rough night from beyond the arc as a team, the Boston Celtics had a commanding lead in Game 1 of their 2025 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals second round series with the New York Knicks...until they did not. A sloppier, rushed, and less-connected version of the Celtics took the floor at TD Garden vs. the Knicks, and New York did not hesitate to capitalize on it.
And while the first half of the game for Boston was not all that bad in terms of execution, the level of focus, intensity, and hunger one would expect from a defending champion was not matched from the Knicks by the Celtics.