Knicks Sucked Life Out of Celtics

The New York Knicks conquered the dragon by beating the Boston Celtics in six games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The series had many twists and turns, but ultimately finished with the Knicks coming out on top.

The Athletic insider Jared Weiss labeled the series as a "disaster" for the Celtics.

"Game 6 was so confounding because the Celtics just looked listless from the start. There was a wave of energy from the Knicks’ defense that Boston could not handle at all," Weiss wrote. "As much as [Jaylen] Brown did to lead this team in [Jayson] Tatum’s absence, he was noticeably apprehensive about attacking closeouts. He kept letting Mitchell Robinson stifle him, which shouldn’t be an issue if he’s willing to drive through contact. For some reason, the Celtics could never get enough leverage to get past their defenders and this quickly turned into a defensive masterpiece by the Knicks.

"Jrue Holiday played so out of control in this game, though he has been that way most of the postseason. The Celtics desperately needed his playmaking and shooting in this series and they didn’t get it, putting too much pressure on Brown and Derrick White to keep up with a well-rounded Knicks offense.

"This was a dud from Boston, something we haven’t quite seen from this franchise in a long time. Even in the conference finals against the Miami Heat two seasons ago, Boston won three games in a row to make up for their initial collapse. It couldn’t muster the same resilience this time and now it’s heading home."

It's hard to see the defending champions make an exit like that, but the Knicks deserve a ton of credit, because even without Tatum, the Celtics are still a great team, and New York managed to still get the job done.