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Knicks Need to View Game 3 as a Two-Way Must-Win

The pressure is on the Boston Celtics to avoid falling into the dreaded 3-0 hole, and the New York Knicks can't afford to pass up the chance to deliver that blow.
Henry Brown|
May 7, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) and center Mitchell Robinson (23) react after a play against the Boston Celtics in the second half during game two of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
May 7, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) and center Mitchell Robinson (23) react after a play against the Boston Celtics in the second half during game two of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

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New York Knicks

If a 3-1 lead is the toughest uphill battle with any hope of survival, then a 3-0 lead is the NBA's equivalent of the kiss of death.

No one in this league has ever recovered from falling into such a deep hole. 13 teams have come back and won a series after trailing 3-1, less than 5% of the time. The rarity of a team winning three straight elimination games puts is already hard enough, with the addition of the fourth game required when trailing 3-0 turning an unlikelihood into an impossibility.

That's the kind of future that the Boston Celtics are currently barreling toward, having blown back-to-back 20-point leads in the first two games of their second-round clash against the New York Knicks. They're heading into Game 3 desperately looking to avoid that damning third consecutive loss, but the Knicks should enter the game with that same frantic effort to apply the dagger.

While a 3-0 lead has proven insurmountable, 2-0 leads have been flipped in much less dramatic fashion. It's happened 34 times in NBA history, including seven instances midway through the 2020s.

Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal issued postgame warning to the Knicks after their Wednesday night win, advising that they not get comfortable with a mere 2-0 advantage.

The Knicks, for all of their heroics, have yet to prove that they're the distinctly better team of the two. The Celtics have a championship pedigree as the reigning title holders, a deeper bench and multiple All-Stars capable of taking over games the same way Jalen Brunson has.

They've missed 75% of the 3-pointers they've hoisted through their first two second round games, and if they have any plans of putting the Celtics into the kind of situation no one's ever escaped, they have to keep winning with defense, hustle and superior shotmaking. Boston knows the stakes, and New York should, too.

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Henry Brown
HENRY BROWN

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