Boston Celtics SIMPLE strategy to beat New York Knicks | ONE PLAYER they’re targeting

Boston Celtics SIMPLE strategy to beat New York Knicks | ONE PLAYER they’re targeting

why this series continues to just come down to who’s making shots and Joe Missoula using timeouts. I’ll explain why he was able to use more of them in game three right now on the Locked On Celtics podcast. Uh-huh. Be ready. Recognize the city of champs. Back to back if I say it a stamp locked on number 19. The best one, the next one. Juice loose in your pool now for the next run. It’s the seed. Who else could it be? What they going to say now? Screaming like JT coral recap in daily prime time white on the sideline. Rain and J how it started. Raising business how we finish locked on home of the winners. Hey there. Welcome back to the lockdown Celtics podcast. right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. We’re at your team every day and I got you every Monday through Friday. Bonus podcast when they play on weekends. So, I had a bonus podcast if you missed it yesterday, Saturday into Sunday. So, make sure you’re subscribed to get that directly to your device. You would have known that I’d already done it if you had been subscribed. So, uh do that. Watch the show on YouTube. Get into the comments section. Let me know what you’re thinking there. I’m John Corales. I’m a beatw writer for Boston Sports Journal. I’ve been covering the team for about 20 years now. and I’ve written a couple books on the Celtics, so I’ve got a long, I think, uh, depth of knowledge when it comes to the team. Today’s show brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code lock.NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Uh we’ll get into the later on the uh some discussion about Mitchell Robinson and the Celtics continued strategy of fouling Mitchell Robinson which really got into his head. I’ll explain the timeouts. A lot of talk after game three about how Joe Misulli used his timeout so much better. I’ll explain why he was even even able to do that. But this whole thing comes down to shooting. And you know, the best shooter I know is Tom Werhome. How about that? How about that for an intro? It’ll do. Yeah, that’ll that’ll that’ll do. Um I I would like What I would like is for every one of my intros from now on to be a little like a slightly more respectful than that every time. Let’s just keep building on this momentum, you know. No, I Fair enough. I I’ll give it my best shot. Uh yeah, you know, it’s so funny. There have been uh as I’ve been characterizing them very frothy discussions after games one and two sure about the Celtics uh in look the the collapses in the fourth quarter were bad. they were not good and the Knicks took full advantage of it and started making shots like they went from can’t really hit a shot to unable to miss in these fourth quarters and the Celtics weren’t able to match them and they collapsed and they lost two games. But some of the discussion have been like, “Oh my god, the Celtics are so bad and the Knicks, they’ve been so good.” I I I just I feel like there’s a a pump the brakes here because not only did the Celtics dominate the Knicks in the regular season so much that everybody, Knicks fans included, came into this series thinking like, “Yeah, this isn’t going to go well.” Yeah. And not only did the Celtics do that, they they went up 20 points now in all three games. They’ve had 20 point leads in all three games. And it it’s just because the Celtics were sloppy, lazy, whatever, bad, horrible, disgusting in these in the first two, fourth quarters that they’re down 2-1. But they they were a few made shots away from being up three nothing. Yes. So, I’m sorry, man. I I’m I’m I pride myself in the breakdowns. I pride myself in the nuance, but I can’t get past the analysis of this this series being anything more than the Celtics made shots in game three. Now, all of the stuff Joe Missoula has talked about flows off of made shots. Yeah. But number one, first and foremost, the Celtics made shots. Not just threes, they made a bunch of all the all the shots that they took. They shot well. The Knicks did not. They and that led to a 30-point lead and the Celtics holding on to that pretty comfortably. Yeah, I think you know Missoula obviously yesterday kind of pushed back when you were like, “Hey, does this come down to shots?” And you and then he was like, “No, it’s like the live ball turnovers. I can’t stress how important that is.” All that stuff. And it’s like so that that sure for sure live ball turnovers are very bad, very destructive for your team. Um definitely bad. But the the truth is like we’re not even talking like the Celtics don’t even have to shoot well, you know? They they don’t even have to shoot average. They need to not have their worst expected field goal percentages of the year and like twice, right? Like like they need to not do that two times. um they needed to do that one time to be up 2-1 and to be in a great spot going forward. And instead they did not. They shot they had two of their worst shooting performances of the year, their two worst shooting performances of the year if you take that expected field goal percentage. And I think that it it does very much look like that, right? When you’re watching the game, you’re like these, man, these are shots that they should make and they didn’t. And if they had made one in either first two games, there’s one that’s game that’s a three nothing lead like and I mean you know so so I guess right to Joe Misoula’s point the margins yeah they’re they’re super important. That’s the margin that we’re working with here, right? Is that one three-pointer in either of those two games could have made this a 2-1 or even a three- 0 series lead. So yeah, no, I think yeah, look, I mean, credit to the Knicks, I guess, right, for like taking advantage of this, for continuing to score when the Celtics literally stopped scoring, right? With like they didn’t hit a field goal for more than eight minutes in the fourth quarter of game two. Like, credit to the Knicks for making enough field goals to overcome that. Sure. Sure. But I Yeah, I’m I’m with you. I I mean, I think it’s it’s it’s almost frustrating trying to it is frustrating trying to analyze this, trying to like take a bigger picture look at this because it’s like I don’t know what you want, man. If they make shots, they win games. And then game three was just like, yeah, they made shots and they won the game. Like 20 point leads in every one of these games. These are It’s simple stuff, man. Like I don’t know. It’s really simple. And And Joe, Sure. You want to talk about we didn’t have those live ball turnovers and we didn’t give up all those points in transition. Okay, let’s go back and look at some of these live ball turnovers that they had. Jason Tatum driving up against three guys and turning the ball over. Jaylen Brown driving into the middle of the paint and turning the ball over. Why? Because they weren’t making shots and those guys were forcing the issue. It all comes down to making the shots initially. And did we see Jason Tatum driving up against three guys in game three? No, because he didn’t have to. Because the the drive and the kick, the kicks were open, the swings were open, the the ball movement was there. That’s that’s the the end of the story to me when you make the initial shots, right? it. The problem, especially in game two, was Celtics miss, Knicks come down and score, the Celtics come down and are like, “Okay, the lead, it’s not going great. We got to do something.” I feel like the Celtics in game two fell very much into reacting to the moment. I that’s that’s how I’ve been putting it. It’s stay in the moment versus reacting to the moment in game two. reacting to the moment. Al Horford forcing a couple of shots. Jason trying to drive against three guys. Jaylen trying to drive and getting it stripped. Those types of plays are the plays that Joe is talking about. And they didn’t do those in game three because in game three, the shots were falling. The pull-up jumpers were falling. Jason Tatum turning the corner or or coming off of the pick and stepping into uh an in rhythm above the break three because Mitchell Robinson or whoever was was covering him was below the three-point line. That shot fell. Derek White’s contested three-pointer fell. the shot. Um, you know, there was a great thing Dan Greenberg tweeted out two plays where, uh, basically the same thing that led to, uh, Pton Pritchard in the corner. Game two miss, game three make. So, yeah, you make those shots. You’re not forcing trying to make up for, oh, the lead’s 20, it’s 17, it’s 15, it’s 12. That’s not there. So the the freakout isn’t there. The poise is easy to keep when you’re hitting those shots. And to me, it that’s as simple as that. So my game four analysis. Make your shots. Continue to make shots and you’ll be okay. And it doesn’t have to be at 50% from three. It just has to be a normal amount. Yeah. I mean, they they’ve showed they don’t need to make 50% of their threes to go up by 20. They can they can be up by 20 making below 30% of their threes because they’re a better team than the Knicks and like it you know then you just got to not Yeah. I mean yeah make your shots make make some shots any any reasonable amount of threes. Make that and then don’t melt down and and you should be able to go back to Boston 22. Now, one thing that people have commented on was Joe Misoula did a great job with the timeouts, and he did. He I thought there were some plays where sometimes where it’s like, okay, the Knicks may like hit two, three shots, and Joe doesn’t like where this is going. Uh, so he called a timeout. But why? There’s one very specific reason why he’s able to do that, and I’ll get to that when we come back. Today’s show is brought to you by Door Dash. They’ve got a great deal for you. Uh if somebody scores 50 or more in the playoffs, you get a free threepiece crispy tenders combo from Wingstop the next day. It’s called they swoosh, you score, and if you see somebody drop 50, you use the code wingstop 50 on Door Dash at checkout. And that combo, the three-piece crispy tint crispy tenders combo is yours. It’s crispy, delicious, and totally free when you place an order of $20 or more. And it’s it’s an offer that’s valid between noon and midnight. So, place your order and you get free extra free food. So, have some fun with it. You know, like it’s a go-to move after an epic game. 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So Tom, uh, one popular comment in the comments section, Joe Misulo was great with the timeouts, especially people were attuned to that after he didn’t call the timeout at the end of game two, which I have said here, I agree with the strategy. You want to maximize possessions, Jason Tatum did the single worst thing you’re supposed to do. You like you can do in that position and turn it over. You’re supposed to get a shot off, but he didn’t. Okay, fine. Whatever. But the reason why Joe was able to call some of these timeouts is because they went on such an such a roll again making shots that they forced the Knicks to call two timeouts in that first quarter which means the Celtics didn’t use a mandatory. Usually you start and and each team has to use a timeout in a quarter. The Knicks called two, so the Celtics didn’t have to use one. He has an extra one to play with. So second quarter, early in the second quarter when things are starting to like, oh, okay, the Knicks are making a tiny bit of a run, call a timeout quick. You had it. Normally that timeout is gone anyway. So this is an important thing that I want to just put out there when it comes to timeout usage. Joe wants to make sure that he has two at the end of the game if he can in case it’s a close situation. But when you come out strong, this is another element of when you make shots, when you were so focused, when you build that early lead against the team and you’re forcing them to call timeouts, you now give yourself more leeway. You give your Whoa. Wow, my seat just gave way. I’m leaving that in. You’re giving yourself more leeway to This is what happens when a Greek starts talking and you start jamming around, but you give yourself more leeway to if if things start to get dicey, you got a couple extra timeouts to play with. That that’s just another byproduct of coming out strong and hitting those shots. Whoops. You are muted. Oops. Uh, locked on Celtics. Not locked into chairs. I’ve uh fallen over out of my chair on the stream. Not on the stream actually though. That’s uh that’s nice. Um yeah. No, I I I think that’s a good point to make about the timeouts. And I think you know it I think it’s important to remember, right? just on a I don’t have a ton to add to it other than to say that I think it’s important for people to remember like when you’re watching an NBA game, the NBA coach has a pretty good handle on the mechanics of what is happening. Like if you’re noticing something, I promise you the coach has noticed it, has clocked it, and is like it’s on their mind. You know what I mean? like with like the exception of like I feel like of a certain uh Bulls coach from a few years ago who who I won’t go ahead and mention who I I did kind of always feel like was kind of not like that was one where I was like maybe if Bulls fans felt they could coach better than him there then possibly. But I do think that like generally speaking, right, the the these these guys are very like if you’ve noticed it, the coach has noticed it. He’s trying something here. And uh yeah, like it’s not to say the coaches are 100% perfect or that they always make the right decision, but they are also aware of it. But you have things like in the third quarter. Now this is I bring this up because there’s a lot of discussion about like did Joe Misoula get out coached and I I I just I laugh a little bit at that because now did he make great coaching decisions? Not always. You know, you can argue that he should have had Pritchard in there, you know, earlier uh in the more earlier in the series. Um but timeouts are an easy one for people to latch on to. Um the there was one in the in the second was it game one or game two where they they had the ball. They were walking it up. It was like 3:14 on the clock. Things had started to go a little you know they’re obviously in the midst of it going south. Yeah. And I’m like, that’s the timeout you should call because they had three and that was a use it or lose it. For people who don’t know, but after the after the three-minute mark in the fourth quarter, no matter how many timeouts you have, they take them all away. You have two after that. So, he had three and I was like, get call the timeout there. They were just walking the ball up the floor. Just call it and get them some rest. Get them refocused. That’s that’s a great place to use. Like I don’t think you should let a use it or lose it go. Yeah. Unless you’re rolling. Unless things are going your way. Take advantage of it. Especially because so many guys are playing so many more minutes. It’s a it’s a free minute and a half of rest or two minutes of rest for the guys that are out there. Just take it. Um and that was the one timeout that I was really kind of criticizing Joe Mazula for. But these are the little things that like you said, the coach knows, the coach is there when when you lose a challenge early and you start to like run up against like, okay, we’re going to we’re down to five timeouts in the second quarter. Well, we’re going to need two two more timeout. Like, we’re we’re starting to get against it. Like if you if you call one more, then you really only have like one more on your own to call. Uh you let certain things go. A lot of times when Joe Misoula lets runs go, it’s because he really doesn’t have an extra timeout to use because if you get down to it in a clutch situation, you want to maximize the possessions. That’s that’s actually why he had to like save that timeout at the end of game two. You only had one left. You wanted to maximize possessions. You needed to get a shot off without it. Um and so you put yourself in these kind of weird situations. So that that’s why like Joe didn’t just remember how to coach. He just had a team that hit shots and went nuts and put them in a position to uh to have a little bit of leeway. For sure. I also I will point out like it he may have gotten out coached. I do think that that’s like you can you can say like yeah Joe Mulla got out coached in in games one and two if you want. Like I’m not going to like sit here and and say that that’s incorrect. Also even him getting out coached doesn’t matter and the Celtics are still up three nothing if they make one or two more three-pointers. So that’s also Yeah, that is 100% factual. Uh okay. Mitchell Robinson another coaching decision. the intentional fouls that really got into his head. We’ll talk about that and we’ll talk about when will a great player have a great game in this series or you know what any semi-final series as it is. All right, we’ll talk about that when we come back. Today’s show is brought to you by Monarch Money. If you’ve ever looked at your bank account and gone like, I remember more money being in here, uh then you need Monarch Money. We’ve all done it. I’ve certainly done it. Um, I’ve had some very lowpaying jobs in my life, so there weren’t very many zeros. In fact, the only zero might have been like 0 point something something. Monarch Money is your personal CFO. It gives you full visibility and control over your finances. 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Go to hungryroot.com/lockdownba. Use the code lockdown. That’s hungry.comlockdown NBA. Code lockdownba. 40% off and a lifetime lifetime free item. Thanks for making Locked On Celtics your first listen every day. A reminder, we’ve got a locked on for every NBA team. So, go check out Locked on Knicks. Uh see what they think after that game three loss. Plus, every other team in the playoffs. You want to see how they’re what they’re doing, what they’re saying, how they’re processing wins and losses. Home teams just getting crushed in these in these playoffs. Another uh another home loss. the Denver Nuggets lost to OKC. Like I don’t want to be like, “Oh, see it’s happening to everybody, so people shouldn’t be worried.” I know that’s people the Celtics fans aren’t going to be, you know, into that, but but it is happening everywhere. It’s kind of weird. Uh the the Pacers at home are currently uh it’s first half and but they currently are kicking the crap out of the Cavs for what it’s worth. This is crazy. Yeah, this is crazy. I I the Cavs are going to get eliminated and I’m confident the Celtics are going to win this series. I’m going to have to go back to Indie again. I thought I was done with Indie. Nope. It’s the one team I don’t want to face and here we are. Yeah. Uh but in the meantime, Celtics are still down 2-1. Um Mitchell Robinson, the the free throw stuff has gotten like kind of nuts. I think it like him at the free throw line, he is extraordinarily demonstrative about like he is very upset that he’s not hitting these free throws. Like this is to me this strategy is is really bearing fruit now because every miss seems to like completely decimate his confidence. Yeah, for sure. I mean like I think you know the one that he airballed where he literally put his his head in his hands. It’s like I mean like just even from a strategic st like yeah from a strategic standpoint you can’t do that like you you got to like keep just like oh well you know on to the next like oh my god cuz like Joe must be loving this Joe seeing that reaction Mr. like you know Mr. Killer and Seals and oh my god he’s just like he’s gonna foul him every time every time he’s on the floor. Yeah. Yeah. I mean and you know I think in game two I really was just like what are you doing? Like I understand you’re trying to get him out of the game, but like putting yourself or putting the other team in the bonus on purpose and just knowing well they’re going to pull him out in a second here and then you know it’s just like it felt um I don’t know. I I had real questions about it after game two and then yeah game three rolls around and it’s like oh my gosh. Yeah. 4 for 12. I mean unbelievable rate of return on you know like points per possession. Uh you know the four for 12 from the free throw line. That’s and you know Robinson in a game that the Knicks what lost by 22. He was minus three you know like yet again his plus minus is like really holding up and you know getting him off the floor. yet it does matter. Like so I mean I think you know it’s it’s he’s got to he’s got to improve for sure but like also like yeah to your point like the the body language after he misses is is just it’s not you don’t see that really at this level like and I I mean I posted this the other day. It’s just like I I understand that like free throws happen like the bad free throw shooters happen and and you know like a lot it it really just comes down to their you know mentality their their you know whether they’re shook or not. But it it that in itself really just hammers home like it’s insane to watch somebody who is who is this bad at free throws at the NBA level cuz like you know it’s not practice. You know Mitchell Robinson is out there getting free throws up. I guarantee you he is. And like I bet you in practice he’s making, you know, whatever percentage of them it is. It’s just Yeah, it’s it’s really ugly, man. He shoots these line drives. It’s It’s bad. I I just We were talking about on press row. We’re like do like we felt bad for the guy. He was so He was so upset. It was like buddy, come on. Like it’s not you you can’t you can’t be letting Joe Mazula see this, man. Like he’s Like that’s Mr. Get up at his superstar. Like you can’t let that guy see this. That’s that’s like a gazelle on the on the planes being like, “Oh my god, my broken leg. My ACL.” Oh man, this is so painful and I’m so slow. I hope nobody eats me. Like it’s so like so the instant the instant that the Celtics are in the penalty like but now that changes Tom Thibido is going to have to be like oh crap we’re in the you know they’re in the penalty we can’t put him in because they’re just going to foul him. Yeah that’s going to change the entire I think substitution pattern which is like if that happens what a win for Joe Misoula. Yeah. Like that’s a big coaching win if that can happen. Um, real I also posted this, but I’m like if Mitchell Robinson at least hit the backboard, you know what I mean? Like like just start trying to bank like try to try to bank it in because like that’s better than missing everything. You know what I mean? Like at least then you have a chance. Maybe the ball hits the rim a couple times and rattles in. I don’t know. Ugly. That’s crazy. Um, finally is, you know, Tatum Tatum had a good first round and has had like some decent decent performances here, but no one no superstar has dominated, right? Jaylen Brunson has not shot well. We and and you know what? When I we go back to making shots, the Knicks missed some very clean open looks to start game three that the Celtics turned into points and could have changed the entire dynamic of the game. This the Knicks are very much in the just make shots as well kind of category, but Brunson is not shooting well. Carl Anthony Towns is so like I am so out on Carl Anthony Towns. I’m selling all of that stock. I I have I’ve never been lower on Carly Anthony Towns. Like, I’m I’m disgusted by what I see from Carly Anthony Towns. Uh so, you’re not getting any superstar performances there. The Celtics aren’t having dominant Tatum Brown like just dominate the game. It I don’t know what’s going on, but at what point do you think we can expect is it going to happen or is this just going to be one of the role players going to have to step up? Payton Pritchard, somebody else, somebody somebody of the others is gonna have to step up and be the reason why the Celtics win this game or somebody wins this game. Well, I think it’s it’s interesting, right? Because that and that’s that’s why the three-point shooting matters so much is that, you know, like Yeah. So much of it has come down to the role players who are, you know, like Yeah. You got I think it was like, you know, eight three-pointers out of out of Derek White, Al Horford, and uh and Drew Holidayiday in in game three. And that’s Yeah, that’s good enough. That’s good. That’s that’s what you need. Obviously Pritchard goes off, you know, you you hope for something like that, but I I do think like game game four is like a prime chance for Tatum, right? Like this is like you’ve had he’s had some some monster performances in the playoffs. And like I think, you know, after game two, there was all this like, oh, Tatum this, Tatum that kind of talk that was like like just ignoring all the context of the rest of his career. like you know all like yes he has had struggles at times and also he’s had some really monstrous performances game four in Madison Square Garden where you’re trying to avoid if if you can you have a big game you go back if you can win that game and go back 2-2 that that’s a big that’s a big superstar moment for him I I I don’t I mean I think one thing I would like to see him do is stop doing step backs against towns like if I never see him take another step back against towns I think that’s a good thing for his shot selection. Um, you know, whether that’s a pass or or just take the three, like stop doing these, you know, these like mid-range shots. But, um, yeah. No, I mean, I think the the opportunity is there for him to have a massive game, right? To have like a really kind of like, um, potentially playoff defining game, you know, the kind that you that you talk about in the same breath you talk about like, you know, some of his games against the Sixers and the Bucks, that kind of thing. Sure. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, the chance is there for him. We’ll see. This goes back to the Mitchell Robinson talk. if if the Celtics like it’s almost it’s almost going to be smarter to just like be super aggressive early on and don’t be afraid to foul even if you’re putting the penalt putting the Knicks in the penalty because if you can keep if you can keep Mitchell Robinson out of the game Yeahing the paint like that would be where Tatum and Brown each have a chance to to attack because you can you can attack Carl Anthony pounds and if it’s Precious Achua that comes in, you can attack him. There’s there’s a lot of opportunity to take advantage based on what the Knicks decide to do with Robinson in the game. So, if and if he’s in there and he’s clogging the paint, you follow him a couple of times, no problem. He’ll get pulled and Tatum can start attacking. I think that’s the formula. That’s the formula. And I remember Scal was was worried. He’s like when when I was talking before the series about I want the Knicks. I want the Knicks. And I remember Scowl saying you don’t want the Knicks because of Mitchell Robinson. They scare me a little bit more. You want the untested team, the the Pistons and all that stuff. But if you can get Robinson out of that game, Yeah. and give Tatum a chance to cook, then you do it. I think I think the first three games in that reaction that Robinson had after game three or in game three, this is a prime situation. Tatum Tatum could get going. If if Robinson has to get pulled, especially if Carl Anthony Towns gets into foul trouble, then forget it. So if Towns is in foul trouble and and Robinson is unplayable, then Tatum has a chance to go off with like an 18-point quarter somewhere in that second or third and the entire thing, the entire series changes. Yeah. And Tatum obviously has a lot to do with whether or not Towns is in foul trouble. So that’s right. That’s right. So that the the simply put attack Carl Anthony Towns, avoid the stepbacks, go at him, force him to foul because he is foul prone. Then put Mitchell Robinson in the game and foul him so he has to and do the opposite. Get him in foul trouble the other way. Yeah. Yeah. And then and then cook because Precious Aua or some other option is the going smaller and then it’s just like torch them. just torch everybody. It just beating the Knicks on paper is very easy. You just got to go like, “Yeah, I don’t know.” Yeah. Then you just got to go do it. We’ll see. Look, man. I’m going to do the classic podcaster thing and say that I was right when I’ve been wrong. Yeah. I don’t I don’t feel bad about our pre pre- series stuff. I really Yeah. Like the Celtics, I’ve said this Celtics were going to win this easily and they should have top 20. They should be way up right now. should be this should be a three- 0 series lead with a couple of like oh well they pissed away two 20 point leads but they were okay. Yeah, they you know you probably would have won each game by 10 by the time the Knicks were done fouling and you hit your free throws and all that stuff. Y so it would have it would have been the story would have been ah you’re up 20 kind of blew it but you held on. No one would have said anything about the Celtics offense. no one would have really cared about much of anything. And then this assuming that the game three went the same way. You know, it I I feel like I was right and the Celtics screwed it up in those two fourth quarters. That’s my take and I’m sticking to it. All right, Tom. Thanks, Tom. Uh always appreciate Tom Westerome. appreciate you, the listener, the watcher, the person who laughed at me when my chair here kind of gave way, but I’m back. I kept it together. I didn’t hit the floor and I p I powered through. That’s the important part. I power through for you on the Lockdown Celtics podcast. So, make sure you’re subscribed wherever you get your podcast. Watch the show on YouTube and then get into that comment section and share the podcast. Tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team every day.

The Boston Celtics face a pivotal moment in their playoff series against the New York Knicks. With star players like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in the spotlight, the Celtics’ shooting performance could be the key to their success. John Karalis, alongside Tom Westerholm, breaks down the strategic decisions, including Joe Mazzulla’s timeout tactics and Mitchell Robinson’s free throw struggles. They explore how these elements might influence the Celtics’ game plan and the potential for a breakout performance from Tatum.

Discover how the Celtics can exploit the Knicks’ weaknesses and what it means for their playoff journey. Tune in for expert analysis and insights that could redefine the series.

2:00 Intro: Celtics-Knicks series analysis
3:40 Celtics had 20-point leads in all games
7:09 Joe Mazzulla’s timeout usage explained
13:04 Extra timeouts from Knicks’ early struggles
19:25 Mitchell Robinson’s free throw struggles
24:52 Celtics’ strategy affecting Robinson’s confidence
28:19 Lack of superstar performances in series
31:28 Attacking Knicks’ bigs could unlock Tatum

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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.

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