Anatomy of a comeback 🔥 How the New York Knicks STOLE Game 2 👀 | NBA Today

Anatomy of a comeback 🔥 How the New York Knicks STOLE Game 2 👀 | NBA Today

Knicks by one at 91 to 90. Celtics not using the timeout. Tatum across mid court with 10. Tatum behind the Horford screen. Crossover foul line with four. Left block to step back. Stolen by Bridges. Another great defensive play for the Knicks. They’ve got it. They’ve won it. Yeah. What a scene outside Madison Square Garden last night. Jana, it was a it was a little party on the road. That is a That’s not a party. That’s a rave. I mean, for good reason. A riot. This was a comeback for the ages. Fans taken to the streets. Understandably so. The Boston Celtics, they led by as many as 20 in last night’s game, too. So, you got your lab coats? Yes. You got your gloves on. We need to examine the anatomy of a comeback here because it takes first the first ingredient. It is a star role player punching above their weight. Enter male Bridges. That is exactly what he did here in the fourth quarter. He had zero points 0 of eight coming into the frame. I love this because the biggest criticism of coach T, coach Tibido was that all right, we don’t rest our guys. He was resting his stars in Brenton. And what did he do? You know, being cold going into this moment that shows you the confidence of this guy Mikuel Bridges. And once he sees one going, he just explodes. Yeah. I mean, the professionalism from him of staying locked in mentally, that’s the hardest part as a as a pro. And when you don’t have it going for three quarters, but in that fourth quarter saying, you know, all I need is one see one go in and continue that, you know, that streak, that’s all he needed. And I would like to say it’s fair to say that he has a side of a court a spot. He had 14 points in the quarter. Here’s Bridges on that fourth. Everything to my teammates, man. They held me up, you know, throughout the whole me missing every shot, you know, until that point. And um it’s really truly them, you know, them just holding me together and keep me mentally right and just telling me to keep going. And um I think coach also just trusting me, you know, um coming out the fourth round to play for me and just just putting that confidence in me. But man, it’s really my teammates and my coaches, man. They really, you know, they really helped me up. All right, so that’s the first part of the anatomy of a comeback. It takes a star role player stepping up. It also takes a team that started off hot going cold. Kendrick Perkins, I mean ice cold, Kendra Perkins, I mean the polar plunge level of cold. That’s what the Boston Celtics did from three-point range. As we head back to TD Garden to see exactly the way that it looked here. The Celtics, they were 15 of 60, 25% shooting perk on three-pointers in game one. And they just kept shooting. I mean, look, but a great job by the Knicks. They’re taking away the driving gaps. They’re loading up the paint. That’s what the Tom Tibido team is going to do right here. I mean, this is Payton Pritch’s shot. But look, OJ Anobi just making the second effort right there. Going to going to contest. That shot was huge. But at what point do you attack the basket, but you can’t get more wide open than this? No defender in sight here. And so far in the series, Perk, Boston has only shot 25% on wideopen threes. They were expected to make 41% of those according to Genius IQ. Horrendous, right? That that’s just the word for this. Shooting wise in the fourth quarter. They made just five of 24 shots and two of 11 three-pointers. Two of their three worst shooting fourth quarters have now come in these last two games against the Knicks. Which leads us to part three of our science project friends. How to close a game and seal a comeback. It takes a Brunson burner. And that is what we saw. Chenet. Yeah. I mean, look, this was not his biggest performing night, but that shot said, “Hello, I won the award for a reason. Yes, you can droop your head.” Stepped up when it counted. That’s when they needed him. Mr. clutch player of the year for a reason. And then right here, check how much time is left in the shot clock when Jaylen Brown takes that shot. Yeah. And now you’re setting up Brunson with a shorter court, having the advantage again. This is a guy that he knows his shot was not necessarily falling. He found ways to get contact, be physical. I don’t That’s why per calls him big right hand, too. But right here, Jason Tatum, a perfectly executed atto. It was elegant. Elegant. The force switch and then of course getting the highest percentage of shots. So Boston up one, but who do you call? Jaylen Brunson. Watch right here. Drew Holiday. He is one of the best defenders in the league. You were talking about discipline here. Yeah, he normally gets those steals in the past. Not against Jaylen Brunson, you’re not. And this is the second made free throw to put the New York Knicks up one. Here’s the thing. The Boston Celtics, they have a timeout. Do Missoula, why didn’t you take it? I had one left. Got a good look on the exact same play uh 20 seconds earlier. Tried to execute the exact same thing. So, they didn’t take it. And here’s the last chance here for the Boston Celtics. Jason Tatum, he’s the guy you want to have it. Chen, you were talking about how difficult this is to force him to that side. Yeah, it is extremely difficult. But guess what? That’s what the Knicks do. They win the game, not just by points, but also defensively, back to back, heart and hustle. Hustle and Male Bridges with the steel. It’s the New York Knicks that take a series lead two games to one. All right, you guys. When you think about the Boston Celtics losing the lead twice, making history, 20 points up, does not matter. It was wild. The Celtics led by 16 with eight and a half minutes left. And that’s when things truly fell apart for the defending champs. I mean, let’s break down these final two plays because I love the first one, which is why they went to it again. This is why I love it. Out of timeout, I said it was elegant. You force a switch. It’s 30 feet away from the basket. Now you have the post player on their heels. Mitchell Robinson. At this point it was almost barbecue chicken because he was stuttering going backwards. And I love this. In two games they were settling for threes. They didn’t find threes. They knocked it down. Jason Tatum with the dunk. Unfortunately for the last play the opposite of elegant. They didn’t get the same matchup or the same mitch. It started with OG. You know OG had a better pickup point the second possession in that fourth quarter. As you see right here, the percentages of of Jason Tatum, his shooting lows and the and the Celtics. But in the second clip here, as you can see, OJ picks up a three-point line knowing he’s not Steph Curry or Damon L. He’s not going to shoot from back here. So now that shrinks the floor for your big man to get out and play, you know, a little bit more better defense. Mr. Robson does a great job switching. You get impressive. Albert’s got to get out of there. You got to give him space. And Jason hit him losing that ball changed the whole trajectory of that play because he couldn’t get by Mitch Robinson. Now he’s got three guys contesting the shot. Tries to make a last play pass. Bad decision. This was a terrible, terrible last possession of the game for the Boston. Yeah. And if you think about it, it’s KY. We see that with scouting reports. Know your personnel, but also for your team to be able to make adjustments on the fly. New York outscored Boston 23-6. The rest of the game, the Celtics, they missed 13 of their final 14 shots. They clanked their final seven three-point attempts. Now, moments ago, Jason Tatum, he spoke about the end of the game. I take full ownership on um the way that I’ve I’ve played in this series. Um and you know, just can’t sugarcoat anything. I need to be better and uh you know, I expect to to be a lot better. All right. So, he’s taking responsibility, Perk, for the way that the end of the game went here. What do you think is the biggest problem right now facing the Boston Celtics, and can they overcome it? Well, the biggest problem is them not getting to the free throw line. And I’m talking about Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but particularly Jason Tatum, right? When you’re a great and you’re a guy that’s that’s striving for greatness, all the greats that I played with, they when their shots are not falling, they get to the free throw line. You find a way to put pressure on the opponent and the referees to to to get to the line. And I think right now it’s all about the the mental toughness with Jason Tatum. I believe he’s in his own head, right? You see the last second the uh game the shot that he had to tie the G or to take the lead or whatever. And we watch him. He wasn’t confident, right? He didn’t he didn’t have the swag like a Tyrese Hallebertton. And so if I’m Tatum, if my three-point shot is not falling, if my mid-range is not falling, I got to put my head down and attack the basket. That’s my biggest takeaway, Perk. To me, it’s not the free throws. It’s the idea that over a stretch, the crucial stretch of this game, it was feast or famine, right? They went eight minutes, the final eight minutes of the game with only one field goal. When you’re a championship team, you have to find different ways to win. Now, that includes free throws. That includes, you know, a lot of people say analytics. I I tweeted it yesterday. We might be witnessing the end of extreme analytics where you keep shooting threes when you actually have guys that are excellent in the mid-range. If you think about the matchups, Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum, you have Hart in front of you. Uh, you have Bruntton in front of you. I’m not mad if you don’t get to the rim, just shoot over those guys. We watched many games where so many players, even Carl Anthony Towns, did you guys see the mismatches? He turned around and just shot over guys. I think that to me was the issue. They couldn’t find a way to put the ball in the basket multiple times down the I’m with Perk here, too. J Jason, I think, had two free throws for the game. But end of the day, there’s not just Jason and Jaylen that has to score, but they can create a basket. These guys are too good and too deep of a team to not have a field goal within seven or eight minutes. You can’t go that long of a stretch. Find your way to get to the free throw line. But down the stretch, I also saw a lot of hero ball, right? Not just on offense, but defense. You know, Drew Holiday, very disciplined defender. You don’t usually gamble for that type of steal. But on offense, I saw too many fadeaway jumpers from the turnaround from Jason Tatum, from Jaylen Brown early in the shot clock trying to bully ball Jaylen Brunson, just bad shot after bad shot and didn’t get good possessions at the end of the day. Are you trying to say that like they try to make too many sexy plays? Just too much. Usually they trust each other. I’m I’m okay with misplans but find each other drop kick and get open shots. The last two minutes they just shot too many fadeaway jumpers over bodies. Well, you got to credit the New York Knicks, too. And by the way, that searching out big body at the end uh in these four quarters that hasn’t been working. Yeah. Like he’s been defending his behind off. So they might want to go to something else. I would love to see what a twoman game look like with Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum. Can we see that one time? I wonder if you could use Jason Tatum as a screener and rolling to the basket. Like, can we see some of that action at times? I’m just asking. Here’s another thing, Chené. Danny, especially you, Chenet. Me and Danny were role players. Okay. But Chené, as the go-to guy, right, goto girl on the squad. And at any time when you felt like breaking the play, the offensive set, you did it. Was the coach going to take you out? No. No. So my my thing is is that I understand the system is shoot a whole bunch of threes, but JT JB Joe Mazula is not going to you if you decide to do something else and or you see something else or you want to attack the lane. I think what makes this a little bit if you want to look glass half full, but it’s also a little bit concerning here for the Boston Celtics. They’ve led all but 12 minutes of these last two games. So that is one way where you’re saying, okay, they were an incredible road team during the regular season, 33 and8 on the road, the best record in the NBA this year. You can find some sort of solace in that, but they’ve been leading the whole way and just haven’t executed down the stretch. They gave the wrong and I said this yesterday, not team, but city life. Yeah. Like this is the biggest game to hit New York apart from like the WNB finals. Okay. In a very, very long time. And now the New York Knicks, they’re feeling themselves. They’re feeling pretty good. Maybe no one more so than uh Josh Hart and Jaylen Brunson at the podium. It’s all about just focusing, having a clear mind, and just trying to win the game. That’s just my mindset. I thought you were tweeting, so I kept refreshing. Oh, no. I was trying to order some Uber Eats. Um the uh you guys both talked before. You guys have been part of a national championship. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t. No, no, no. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. No, I’m saying him. I got one. I’m part of one. I got one. I got one that’s part of two. I got one. I got one. No one’s worried about the fire alarm. Extremely relatable. I just need to know what was the order. What were you like? What’s your post? I need another uh

On NBA Today, Chiney Ogwumike and Danny Green join Malika Andrews to break down the New York Knicks’ epic comeback vs. the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

0:00 Game 2 Recap
1:09 Mikal Bridges’ impact
2:12 Boston Celtics go cold
5:13 Chiney and Danny break down final two plays
7:15 Perk addresses Celtics’ issues
8:20 Celtics had 1 FG in final 8 minutes
9:05 Hero ball for the Celtics
9:53 Giving Knicks credit

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