Jaylen Brown reacts after fouling out during the third quarter of Game 6.
Jaylen Brown reacts after fouling out during the third quarter of Game 6.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
NEW YORK — This is how we envisioned the Celtics looking without Jayson Tatum, having given away the first two games of this series against the Knicks and spending the past four games feverishly trying to rally, to regain their respect and competitiveness.
Overcoming those factors were just too much for a team that spent the past several years making deep playoff runs, being an annual conference finals participant. This time they met a hungrier team that capitalized on their vulnerability and then when the Celtics needed to be near perfect in Game 6 to send the series back to Boston, they were flawed, exhausted, and frustrated in their 119-81 loss at Madison Square Garden.
This is probably the end of an era with Tatum expected to miss at least most of next season with a torn right Achilles’. The Celtics have dominated the East for years, winning it all last season, reaching the Finals in 2022, losing in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals two years ago.
But asking them to beat the Knicks four times was obviously just too much. They competed for about 10 minutes in Game 6 and then shots never started falling. Jaylen Brown valiantly tried to channel his Cedric Maxwell and put the Celtics on his back, but that resulted in a series of bad turnovers and missed shots.
He fouled out in the third quarter with the Celtics down 33 points.
“It stings,” Brown said. “Any time losing stings, especially finishing your season like this. It just wasn’t our year. Things didn’t go our way this year. It’s unfortunate but we hold up our heads regardless.”
Brown then perhaps exemplified the pain of a franchise that has lost its crown.
“Losing to the Knicks feels like death,” he said. “But I was always taught there was life after death. So, we’ll get ready for whatever’s next.”
And the Knicks’ defense was focused on making sure Derrick White and Luke Kornet would have minimal impact. And as the Knicks piled up baskets, snatched away rebounds, and swatted away shots at the rim, the importance of Tatum increased exponentially.
Unfortunately for this proud organization, the Celtics finished this season on their backs, the sixth consecutive champion unable to even reach the conference finals the next season. Perhaps it was fatigue, perhaps it was an extremely limited Kristaps Porzingis, perhaps it was too much reliance on the 3-pointer. Or maybe it was all those equally.
What is obvious is this team is headed for offseason changes, a revamp of the roster, a potential youth movement, and pivot now that their franchise cornerstone will spent the next several months in rehabilitation.
The Celtics lost this series in the first two games, blowing consecutive 20-point leads, falling apart in the fourth quarter, with coach Joe Mazzulla refusing to make adjustments until it was direly needed, simply relying on more made shots as the remedy. By the time the Celtics played their brand of basketball, it was too late, and then Tatum snapped his Achilles’ late in the fourth quarter of the must-win Game 4. And while the played with Celtics pride to win Game 5 resoundingly, they couldn’t even come close to a repeat in Game 6.
This time, with Porzingis a shell of himself, Derrick White looking frazzled by the increased defensive emphasis and Brown constantly challenging multiple defenders as if his manhood depended on it, the Celtics just didn’t have enough. They are now former champions.
JOSH HART ➕1️⃣ pic.twitter.com/MOA9gBRkM9
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) May 17, 2025
But the blame for losing this series is spread evenly. Terrible fourth-quarter execution in Games 1 and 2, porous defense in Game 4, and finally just plain exhaustion and resignation in Game 6.
“We set a goal out and we didn’t achieve that goal,” Mazzulla said. “The approach and the process to it, you can’t ask anymore from the guys. I thought they gave everything they had throughout the season. This is the price you pay for trying to go after something. That’s how it goes.”
The Celtics are a proud franchise and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has packed the roster with talent for the past decade to make those deep playoffs runs, and he brought back essentially the same roster with a legitimate chance at a repeat.
But Brown’s knee issue robbed him of his athleticism, Tatum sustained a badly injured wrist in Game 1 of the first-round series against Orlando, and Porzingis never shook the virus that caused him to miss eight games in March and this time they ran into a hungrier and more passionate team that hadn’t reached a conference final in 25 years.
The Celtics found out by experience why it’s so difficult to repeat, why it’s so difficult to garner the energy for consecutive 100-plus game season, how much health and chemistry have to be aligned. This year, it just wasn’t regardless of how much the Celtics wanted to convince themselves everything was gonna be OK.
But it was evident in front on the basketball world and on the MSG stage, the Celtics are now just another contender that will now have to begin that steep climb to the championship mountain from the bottom.
“I don’t make no excuses, obviously it’s tough the way we went out tonight,” Brown said. “But the way we finished the year, I’m proud of our group. We fought. We was in a lot of battles. There’s a lot to be excited for. This journey is not the end. It’s not the end for me. You take this with your chin up. I know Boston, it looks gloomy right now with JT being out, but there’s a lot to look forward to. I want the city to feel excited about that. This is not the end.”
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.