Jalen Brunson puts Celtics on the brink in Game 4

All three of the Knicks' wins in this second-round series have come after the Celtics took double-digit leads, including the Knicks' 121-113 win in Game 4, which gave them a 3-1 series lead. In the series, Boston is outscoring New York in the first half, 244-183. That's an average halftime deficit of over 15 points.

After halftime, though, it's a different story. New York has scored 230 points to Boston's 179 points, an advantage of a little under 13 points per game. The Celtics simply haven't been able to put the Knicks away when they've had early leads, and late in games, Brunson is very hard to stop.

They've also had trouble stopping Mikal Bridges. He shot 5-for-6 in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 points. The last came on a dagger fadeaway to beat the shot clock and give the Knicks a late seven-point lead.

Bridges finished with 23 points, as did Towns, with both players making 11 field goals. OG Anunoby finished with 20 points, going 5-for-6 after halftime, part of a team effort helped by Brunson's 12 assists. New York had 25 assists to Boston's 15.

Another trend in the series has been the Celtics' poor three-point shooting late in games. After shooting 12-for-24 from deep in the first half, they went 6-for-24 on three-pointers in the second. On a late 5-on-4 after Brunson fell down following a missed layup, Derrick White (4-for-5 before halftime, 2-for-6 after) pulled up and missed a three. 

In the second half, Boston was 12-for-18 on two-pointers, yet took 24 threes.

Now with Jayson Tatum out indefinitely with a scary injury that happened with three minutes to go, the Celtics have even more work to do. They need to win three straight games to keep their dreams of repeating as champions alive, and they need to start by figuring out how to repeat their early success after halftime.