Knicks 118, Celtics 109: “Still a blowout. See you in the Playoffs”

It’s funny, this chap. No ‘m’ in the middle, no typo in there.

The Celtics, coming off a loss to the Bucks in which they started someone called “X. Tillman” at the five, decided to, well, activate all five starters for their matchup against the Knicks on Thursday trying to get back on track a bit.

No luck, fancy pants.

The Celtics, mind you, had sat at least one of their supremely talented starters in each of their prior three games (all wins) and many more times during the final days of March and at the start of April.

Of course, Boston being Boston, they had to start all five of them against the Knicks of all teams. Well, actually, the Celtics are most probably trying to curate the standings to adapt them to their favor, or at least the shape they feel more comfortable with entering the postseason.

Are the Celtics trying to help the Knicks catch the Bucks in No. 2 so it’s New York who ends up facing Philadelphia/Miami in the first round instead of Indiana? Are they trying to avoid any of those two Play-In teams in particular?

One and only one thing is factual here: the Knicks trounced Boston 118-109 on Thursday.

And as Dozin’ With The Knicks wrote in the comments section of yesterday’s game thread: “I don’t care what the final score says this was still a blowout. F—k the Celtics. See you in the playoffs.“

Do you know the only thing that drove me nuts yesterday? Brunson missing a freebie. Yes, a single freaking free throw of the five he took. Had he scored one of those two missed shots, he would have put up 40 pops on the spot.

“Why so mad?” You may ask. “What’s the difference between 39 and 40 this late in the season in a game decided long before the final buzzer?” You could reasonably ponder.

Brunson was this close to at least keeping alive the possibility of becoming a true, historical, legitimate All-Caps Knickerbocker by hitting 40+ points in the most games ever in a single season donning Orange & Blue threads.

Not happening this season anymore with only two games left. Ugh.

Not that I can complain, however, as Brunson will finish the year with at least 10 40-point outings, and even if he sits the final two contests he will join Patrick Ewing (11) and Bernard King (13) as the only Knicks with 10+ such performances in a single campaign.

Let’s give OG Anunoby—via the great Fred Katz—a chance to describe that type of player in his own words.

Cute!

See you tonight at MSG. Knicks vs. Nets. As if we don’t already know how that’ll end...

Go Knicks!