BOSTON — What, you thought it was going to be easy?
Not these Knicks. They don’t do simple.
Even without Jayson Tatum, the Celtics weren’t going to roll over, and the Knicks didn’t bring anywhere close to the required effort and execution at either end of the floor to end the defending champions’ season on Wednesday night.
Their 3-point defense was shaky. The offense was too isolation-heavy and stagnant. And, in a reversal of this series, the Knicks couldn’t respond to a second-half run.
And so Tom Thibodeau’s team will have to wait at least another 48 hours to advance to the franchise’s first Eastern Conference finals in 25 years after this 127-102 Game 5 beatdown at TD Garden.
The Celtics buried the Knicks from deep, hitting 22 3-pointers to extend the series.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White hit 10 of them, and Boston blew the game open in a third quarter in which it took more free throws (18) than the Knicks had points (17).
It was a second-half implosion by the Knicks, who were outscored by 34 points after building a nine-point lead early in the second quarter.
Jalen Brunson was held to nine points after halftime before fouling out. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby shot a combined 5-of-26 from the field, and Karl-Anthony Towns was outplayed for large stretches by former Knick Luke Kornet.
Josh Hart (24 points, seven rebounds) and Mitchell Robinson (eight points, 13 rebounds) were the lone bright spots in this forgettable performance.
For the first time in the series, the Knicks held a lead after 12 minutes. It was even at halftime. Neither team defended particularly well.
The Celtics hit 12 of their first 23 3-point attempts. The Knicks got to the free-throw line 15 times, and made 13 of them.
The Knicks were flirting with building a big lead, up by nine early in the second quarter, when the Celtics ripped off a 13-2 run to get the crowd into it. The burst included seven points from Brown.
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Brunson checked back in at the end of it and stabilized the game for the Knicks, scoring eight straight points.
After Brunson, the second-best Knick in the opening half was Robinson. He was a monster on the glass with 11 rebounds in 15 minutes, and also hit all four of his free-throw attempts despite entering the evening having made only 11-of-39 in the playoffs.
Brown and White led the Celtics, combining for 36 points and eight made 3-pointers in 12 attempts, in Tatum’s absence.
The Celtics started the third quarter fast, building a seven-point lead after White’s seventh 3-pointer of the night. Boston scored on its first eight possessions of the third period and took 15 free throws over the first 6:13 of the period. After a Hart 3-pointer gave the Knicks a three-point lead, Boston scored 22 of the game’s next 28 points, building a 13-point cushion.
It was a brutal third quarter for the Knicks, who were limited to 17 points in the period, were held without a made field goal over the final 4:25 of the quarter and trailed by 15 entering the fourth.
No comeback was coming. The lead kept growing, up to 28 at one point. Either this was the start of the Celtics rallying from a huge 3-1 series deficit or one last hurrah for the reigning champs in front of their home crowd.
The Knicks and their fans can only hope it’s the latter.
