Former Champion Slams Celtics, Says Boston 'Cheated' Game vs Knicks

A cult hero of the Boston Celtics has expressed worries regarding the team's performance in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, where they were defeated in six games by the New York Knicks.

The Celtics entered as heavy favorites to defeat the Knicks, given the team's greater experience and chemistry compared to New York, which recently added center Karl Anthony Towns to the roster.

The Knicks made a big move over the offseason, pairing Towns with Jalen Brunson as the team's new dynamic duo, while the Celtics' duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum has now had several years together with multiple playoff pushes and unparalleled experience.

Former champion Brian Scalabrine, now an analyst for NBC Sports Boston, expressed during his analysis of the series that he believes the team underestimated the difficulty of defending their championship title and failed to rise to the occasion during the series.

"The Knicks got beat by the Celtics four times pretty handily [in the regular season]," Scalabrine began.

"At the time you thought, 'Alright let's see what this team is about. No way you could lose four times.' And the Celtics responded, Tatum was amazing and they won in the regular season. And then the playoffs roll around, Celtics clearly the better team in Game 1, but blow a 20-point lead...clearly the better team in Game 2, but blow a 20-point lead.

"They also blew another 14-point lead. So bottom line is, whether it's bad habits that creeped in during the year...one way or another, this is probably fitting, maybe, for the Celtics to go out like this because there are probably times where they maybe cheated the game a little bit in the way that they approached this series."