The New York Knicks are good at this.
Just two days after the Knicks made a comeback with 20 points in the second half, they defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals and completed that goal. Thanks to the same deficit on Wednesday night, this is thanks to a huge fourth quarter performance and a late block from Mikal Bridges, defeating the Celtics 91-90.
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That gave the Knicks a 2-0 lead on Saturday afternoon when they headed to Manhattan for Game 3. They are now also the first team in NBA playoff history, scoring 20 points from consecutive games. By comparison, the Celtics won only 20 points in the entire regular season.
The Celtics were very stable on Wednesday night with three quarters. They opened the game with 16-4 tears, leaving the Knicks scoreless for nearly five minutes to start the game and then took a 20-point lead in the third quarter. Everything is gone.
However, the Knicks also stood out from Game 1 and won overtime, and he played the fourth quarter again. They broke the 21-4 game in the final stage, while the Celtics were basically closed. Boston made 12 consecutive shots and scored more than 8 minutes without a shot.
Finally, Jayson Tatum ended the drought with the simplest bucket he could have been able to get. Tatum drives the length of the floor in seconds, then throws down a dunk and lifts the Celtics up.
But on the other hand, Jalen Brunson fouled on the elbow jumper and hit two free throws to lift the Knicks. Although the Celtics had a last look, Tatum could not shoot. The Celtics had a timeout to try to play a game, but the bridge blocked Tatum in the corner of the buzzer to block a point victory and left Boston fans incredible.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said they didn't play in the final timeout because they felt they could play the same game again without getting Brunson out of the game.
"There is one left (timeout) that looks good in the exact same match after 20 seconds," Mazzulla said. "Trying to do the exact same thing, they did better on the pickup point in the lower section, we couldn't get the advantage we got on the last tatum dunk... Bruson took action there, just didn't execute."
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Derrick White scored 20 points and 9 rebounds in the loss. Jaylen Brown also added 20 points, with Tatum having 13 points and 14 rebounds. The Celtics only shot 40 goals from the three-point line. They also scored an NBA playoff record of 45 three-pointers in Game 1.
Josh Hart led the Karl-Anthony Towns with 23 points, adding 21 points and 17 rebounds. Bridges scored all his 14 points in the final stage, adding eight rebounds and five assists to the Nicks win.
Game 3 of the series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon in New York. While the Knicks still have a way to actually make the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000, there is no doubt that they undoubtedly put the league's defending champion on the wall.