The New York Knicks are heading for a second-round date with the Boston Celtics after a triumphant Game 6 win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night. But that high will quickly fade, beacuse New York's weakness all season will likely be exploited by a Boston team that can torch it from deep if they are able to move the ball around.
During the regular season, the Celtics attempted the most 3s in the league by a mile, shooting over 48 per game and making 17 of them (37%). While the squad did struggle from beyond the arc in their first-round series against the Orlando Magic (a league-worst 26%), that had more to do with Orlando's specific personnel and a unique game plan than anything else — neither of which the Knicks will be able to bring to bear in round two.
Knicks will have a hard time guarding 3-point line against Boston
In all reality, it's hard to see a world where New York is able to defend the 3-point line against Boston in this series. Unless someone goes way beyond their ability on the defensive side in this series, it's hard to say who will be able to stop Boston from raining fire from deep, especially considering how vulnerable bigs like Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson are.
The franchise could of course switch to a small-ball lineup, but that brings a whole set of other issues that will Boston will probably capitalize on. Thibodeau is nothing if not set in his ways: He wants to put a traditional big in drop coverage, refuse to switch on ball screens whenever possible and wall off the paint — even if that means allowing a kick-out for an open 3.
The problem is that it's not 2005 anymore, and that's exactly how the Celtics want to play, hunting mismatches in isolation and using their drive-and-kick game to produce bundles of quality looks from deep. Considering this, it's hard to see how New York could win even three games in this series, nevermind four out of seven. Maybe the Knicks can make this competitive Boston goes completely cold from 3 for two to three games and they get great performances from KAT and Brunson.
Still, this will likely require Boston to miss good looks from the perimeter. Whether the Celtics will make their 3s in this series is yet to be seen, but it's clear that the Knicks come in with a huge disadvantage that could make this series extremely short if Boston can take care of business.