Celtics 116, Knicks 102: "Significantly outgunned but hanging around.”

Take a look at these two shooting slash lines, showing the percentages from the floor, three, and the charity stripe: 56/43/75 against 45/34/94.

One team couldn’t miss, the other one missed shots more often than not. The shots were pretty balanced with one side hoisting 81-35-12 and the other one 82-38-16. The former figures belong to the Celtics, the latter to the Knicks.

For two quarters and change, New York played a respectable host to the visiting Beantowners inside The Only Garden. After a few minutes into the second half, however, the Knicks unraveled and there was nothing the dudes could do about it. Not when the guys assaulting Manhattan were playing with their shooting-accuracy slider set-up to a 99.

The result? A first-half 62-58 tightly-contested battle... but a final 116-102 one-sided lost war.

So fluky was Boston shooting that they went on a silly 33-13 run that buried New York 20 points under. So fluky was it, that the Knicks made it a reasonably-winnable game (nine-point distance) with less than ten minutes left in regulation before imploding mightily.

While it’s true the Knicks never led the game after the first nine minutes of play on Saturday, it’s also true that finished three of four quarters either tied or no more than four points behind the Celtics’ outcome. Of course, the only quarter in which they failed to do so, coming off the halftime break, sealed the loss for them—35 points for Boston, 26 for the Knickerbockers.

This (h/t @KnickCentral) happened in the fourth quarter, but you get an idea of how things went for the Garden inhabitants and what could have happened if a certain trio of frontcourt starters had been on the floor and available.

That’s three consecutive offensive rebounds pulled down by old man Al Horford. So yeah, even when the Celtics missed (which they didn’t a lot of) they still kept getting more and more chances to try and bag their shots.

No wonder Boston beat the Knicks at all three levels, shooting 57% from the floor (Knicks at 45%), 43% from beyond the 3-point arc (Knicks at 34%), and beating New York in a rather insulting way inside the paint, 58-38. And that is with the Knicks grabbing more rebounds (39 to 36) than the C’s.

The turnovers didn’t help New York either with the hosts doubling Boston’s mark of seven and finishing with 14 giveaways on Saturday, the fourth consecutive matchup in which the Knicks have turned the ball over 10+ times. That, paired with a poor defensive effort (one steal, three blocks), hurt the team.

This was just the second game all season long the Knicks failed to steal at least two possessions. It was also the second in the past 10 games in which they failed to block 4+ shots. And although they collectively broke the 20-assist barrier, Jalen Brunson was (surprise!) once more the only player out there truly carrying the team forward—as it’s been the case since both Julius Randle and OG Anunoby went down injured on Jan. 27.

Brunson was his spectacular self (34 points, nine dimes, three rebounds, the lone steal), but he was also the only Knick connecting on more than six field-goal attempts and the only one attempting more than 12 shots from the field.

Had it not been for Josh Hart’s help and his ridiculous 42-minute usage, this could have ended in much uglier fashion. Hart finished with an efficient 16-8-6 line shooting 60% from the floor and 40% from three. Outside of JB and JH and fellow former Villanova Wildcat Donte DiVincenzo (12 FGA) only one other Knickerbocker attempted 10+ shots: struggling Alec Burks.

It is too early to judge, but it’s fair to say Burks has not quite hit the ground running in his return to the Garden following the trade deadline.

Burks shot 3-for-11 and only hit paydirt on one of his seven 3-point attempts on the day. The former-and-current Knick has been given the green light by Thibs playing either off the pine or as a starter (once) on an emergency basis. He’s attempting nearly 11 FGA per game but he’s shooting a putrid 33.3% from the floor and scoring exactly 2.0 3PM a pop albeit taking nearly six 3-point shots per game to get there.

On the season, three players in the NBA are attempting 10+ FGA and 5+ 3PA per game while shooting below 39% from the floor, one of them being Burks. (No, Jordan Poole is not part of that three-man group). The other two, at least, are contributing in other categories such as assists, rebounds, and steals, and posting numbers higher than Burks’ this year.

Again, nothing against Burks. I’m fully into the Knicks trade for both AB and Bogey, and it’s not that they found the best-possible situation upon arrival in LaGuardia. That said, it seems #KnicksTwitter is already trying to manufacture a case against Burks for some reason...

And once more, I keep thinking that the shooting was horrible by Burks and some other fellas wearing blue threads, but there is nothing you can do if all Celtics starters are scoring 12+ points, scoring 5+ field goals and 2+ 3-point shots each, and having their only playable reserve (Ancient Al) logging 26 minutes while contributing 10 points and seven rebounds.

Beloved Knickerbocker Legend Kristaps Porzingis finished with the second-most points (22) among C’s feasting in and out. Tatum was “limited” to 19 points, but that was more than enough. Jaylen Brown exploded for 30 at MSG, only bested by Brunson’s 34.

Looking at the state of affairs from the broadest angle (and it’s not a fancy one, mind you: the Knicks have gone 0-4 and have gotten molly-swept by Boston), the truth is that finishing the first one after the All-Star break with a 1-1 record and splitting matchups against the Sixers and the Celtics isn’t that bad.

Starting on Monday the Knicks will play seven of their next eight games at home with a trip to Cleveland smacked right in the middle of that span. There will be matchups against the likes of Detroit and Atlanta. The Sixers will come to MSG twice in a span of three days with Joel Embiid sidelined and still not allowed to drop his walking cane. Promises, progress, one game at a time, step by step.

For now, the Knicks (34-23) are still in possession of the no. 4 seed in the East, half a game above Philly with one more win than the Sixers and the same figure in the loss column. There is a two-game gap above them (to Milwaukee) and a similar one below to no. 6 Orlando.

On tap, Detroit. A perfect matchup for the haters to enjoy an Alec Burks revenge game, ain’t it?