Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce question ‘IQ’ vs. Knicks

The Boston Celtics are in a jam, to put it midly. The Celtics blew back to back 20 point leads and now trail 2-0 in the second round. 

Certainly not what most had expected from the defending champions. Now, they are feeling the wrath of Celtics legends Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, two men who were key to the Celtics’ improbable championship run in 2008. 

Indeed, Pierce is fuming after losing a bet to Garnett that they would win Game 2. 

On the KG Certified podcast, both men bluntly questioned the IQ of the Celtics, who are in deep peril. They said if they were playing, they would ease up on the 3s and take the ball to the basket, which the Celtics have not done. 

“It’s what we’ve been saying,” Garnett said. “The league doesn’t have the part where I’m thinking. Obliviously I’m processing but, I just don’t know man, I just don’t see that focus in the fourth quarter to put you away. I’ve got you down 15 in the third and we’re tied at the five minute mark. That’s execution, that’s thinking. That’s IQ, I’ve got to have an IQ to know that, if we came down we missed three threes, what’s the next thing P? If we missed three, threes in a row what do we do?”

Pierce responded with his summations. 

“We get to the rack, something to the paint,” he said. Pierce also says that the Knicks are playing a much more physical game. He credits the play of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Karl Anthony-Towns with making the Knicks more determined. 

“I‘m seeing the Knicks be more physical than us,” Pierce said. “That’s standing out to me. The physicality. Just Hart, Brunson, KAT.  Man, offensive rebounds, I mean it’s like damn, taking it to the rack strong.

Even though the Celtics built 20-point leads, that is not enough for Pierce and Garnett. 

How do the Celtics come back from this?

The obvious thing is for the Celtics to improve their shooting at the 3-point line. But to Garnett’s point, not just chuck up 3s willy nilly. 

They have also put themselves in a precarious position by allowing the Knicks to come back in the second half and overtime. The Celtics need to up their game on the defensive end and crash the boards with greater regularity. 

The Knicks have been getting most of the second-chance points and rebounding better. The Celtics’ defense must remain intact throughout the game, especially in the later stages.