Derrick White (left) and the Celtics were no match for the Knicks in a season-ending Game 6 loss at Madison Square Garden.
Derrick White (left) and the Celtics were no match for the Knicks in a season-ending Game 6 loss at Madison Square Garden.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
NEW YORK — After the Celtics walloped the Knicks in Game 5 of this conference semifinal following Jayson Tatum’s season-ending Achilles’ injury, it briefly ignited new hope. The game was a reminder that this Boston team remains filled with stars, and Friday night’s Game 6 was an opportunity for the Celtics to shift the pressure back on the Knicks, whose decades of playoff struggles could quickly begin to loom.
But then this game began, and the Knicks unloaded 25 years of playoff frustration on the Celtics, who appeared stunned and helpless. It mostly turned into a 2½-hour celebration at Madison Square Garden, with the Knicks eventually rolling to a 119-81 win.
New York advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000, and the Celtics failed to become the first team since the 2018 Warriors to repeat as NBA champions.
Forty-point quarters became common for this high-powered Boston offense, but it mustered a season-low 37 in the first half. Jaylen Brown had 20 points and seven turnovers for the Celtics, who shot just 36 percent from the field. Four Knicks scored 20 points or more, led by Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby with 23 apiece.
The Celtics will now enter an offseason filled with questions, with a ballooning payroll that will be combined with Tatum’s injury that could keep him out for all of next season.
Observations from the game:
⋅ Fresh off his dominant Game 5, Luke Kornet started in place of the struggling Kristaps Porzingis. Entering Friday, the Celtics had been 12.1 points per 100 possessions worse with Porzingis on the court during these playoffs, and 6.6 points per 100 possessions better with Kornet.
Kornet had a putback during his first six-minute stint but the Knicks mostly avoided him at the other end of the court following his seven-block Game 5. Porzingis checked in with 6:09 left and missed his first mid-range jumper badly. He showed at least some signs of life after that, hitting a 3-pointer and rotating over for a nice weak-side block of Karl-Anthony Towns. But neither could really do anything to keep the Knicks off the offensive glass.
Maybe now that the season is over, more will be revealed about Porzingis’s mysterious illness. But it became clear in recent weeks that he was a shell of the player who looked like an All-Star for stretches of this season.
⋅ Brown had a wobbly start. He missed a wide-open 3-pointer, threw a pass out of bounds, and fouled Brunson near midcourt. But he played the rest of the quarter — typically Tatum’s role — and settled in. He drilled a pair of 3-pointers, converted a 3-point play, and hit a big running layup at the end of the period to slow New York’s momentum.
Brown sat to start the second quarter, but when the Knicks went on a quick 5-0 run coach Joe Mazzulla turned to him after just over a minute.
Moments later, however, Brown caught the ball in the left corner and lined an open 3-pointer. He hesitated long enough for Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson to close out on him, and then Robinson simply smothered Brown in the corner, forcing a turnover. Brown had just two turnovers during his masterful 12-assist Game 5 performance. Much discussion leading up to Game 6 centered on whether he could sustain that, but his seven-turnover night provided an answer.
Brown picked up his fifth foul midway through the third quarter but stayed in the game, because any longshot comeback would probably have to start with him. Then he fouled out with 2:50 left, and the crowd knew it. After the Knicks stretched their lead to 92-51 with three minutes left in the third quarter, Mazzulla called a timeout and went deep into his bench.
⋅ Celtics other than Brown started just 1 for 10 from the 3-point line. Sam Hauser got a perfect, in-rhythm look from the top of the key in the opening quarter that he simply has to hit.
⋅ If you missed the first half, this sequence should mostly sum it up: Midway through the second quarter Josh Hart slithered free for a layup as he was fouled. He missed the ensuing free throw but ended up with the rebound, yet another offensive board for New York.
Hart found OG Anunoby, who had time to set his feet and think about a 3-pointer. The Celtics were fortunate that he missed it, but Hart grabbed yet another offensive rebound. This time, Boston forced a steal, but Derrick White streaked upcourt and had his layup swatted away by Miles McBride. Hart then converted the ensuing transition opportunity with a 3-point play that he converted. Gross stuff for the Celtics all around.
⋅ It wasn’t great for the Celtics that the Knicks opened a 26-point second-quarter lead while shooting 28 percent from the 3-point line. New York pulverized the Celtics on the offensive glass and by making Boston extremely uncomfortable at the other end of the floor.
⋅ White has smothered opponents’ runs with timely shots all season. In the first half Friday, however, he was just 1 for 7 and 0 for 4 from the 3-point line, despite having clean catch-and-shoot opportunities. Jrue Holiday, meanwhile, finished 1 for 8.
⋅ Robinson checked in with just over four minutes left in the opening quarter with New York in the penalty, a puzzling call by the Knicks. The Celtics quickly fouled the big man and he hit one of two free throws before he subbed out and sat the rest of the quarter. Robinson was back on the floor to start the second, when his foul slate was clean. None of this chess game ended up mattering, of course.
⋅ This crowd was ravenous. Combine the decades of Knicks playoff struggles, a rivalry game against the defending champions, and Friday night buzz, and it was a perfect recipe. It could have shifted into nervous energy fairly quickly if the Celtics had a hot start, but that never materialized.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.