Knicks bring their version of Celtics model into Boston for season opener
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson celebrates after scoring against the Boston Celtics last April at TD Garden. Credit: AP/Steven Senne
BOSTON — The blueprint came printed in Celtics green, a plan that Boston utilized to become NBA champions by building a team filled with versatility and firepower. And after a successful run as a team that would drag opponents into a dogfight, Leon Rose and the Knicks front office opted to follow the blueprint.
So Tuesday night marks the first test of how well the Knicks' version of the Celtics' model — a team of switchable players with a center who drags the opposition outside the three-point line — measures up against the original.
“Whenever a team wins the championship, everyone analyzes how they did it and what their personnel was and what their scheme was and everything,” Jalen Brunson said after the Knicks' morning shootaround before the season opener at TD Garden where they'll raise the Celtics' NBA championship banner. “And so, I don't want to speak for the rest of the league, but a lot of people saw how successful they were with their offense and their five out and their schemes and whatever.
“And so, it may not be a carbon copy, but everyone will want to kind of adjust to the new ways of basketball every time someone wins like that.”
The Knicks aren’t mimicking the Celtics exactly, and the Celtics won't post their full lineup either. Kristaps Porzingis is sidelined likely for at least the first two months of the season as he recovers from offseason ankle surgery. But you can see the ideas: Swinging a major deal for Karl-Anthony Towns, an elite shooting big man, and another for Mikal Bridges, a two-way wing who could help OG Anunoby and Josh Hart defend the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“Yeah it’s going to open up the floor for everyone,” Anunoby said of the addition of Towns. “The driving lanes, [it’s] going to pull the center out, which should be really fun. It’s going to be exciting.”
And the Knicks come with some pedigree of their own. After dropping their first four meetings with Boston last season, the Knicks managed to build leads of as many as 31 before settling for a nine-point win with Julius Randle out and Anunoby back from injury last April.
So if the Knicks can maintain some of their drag through the mud style — see Brunson, Hart and coach Tom Thibodeau as the blueprint for that — and add some version of the Celtics' style, maybe their version can match or exceed the original.
“Obviously the ball was going [in] the hoop that night,” Brunson said of that April win over Boston. “But we can't think about the other four losses that we had against them. We had one good game against them, but for the majority of the season, they were beating us. So, I mean, we can do good things, but we got to be more consistent when it comes to playing them.
“Most importantly, we’ve got to stick together through everything. You can go through the X's and O's of everything, but whatever happens in the game, you got to adjust, whether it's positive or negative, and just make sure we're out there being the team. That's all we focus on."
The Celtics will get their rings and raise another banner to the rafters, but coach Joe Mazzulla already is working on pushing the Celtics to forget the past and focus on the task of repeating.
“This team, the 2024-25 Celtics, is not great, yet. That’s it right there,” Mazzulla told reporters Monday. “Do we have the potential to be? Yes. The key word ‘yet’ is very important. Do we have great talent? Yes. Do we have great players? Yes. Do we have a great foundation? Yes. Is this ‘24-25 team great yet? No, because we haven’t been in a game. It just takes time and every season is different. Assuming that you’re just going to [repeat what they did] in the past doesn’t necessarily mean this is going to work now. You have to stay open-minded to do something different.”
Game 1 of 82 — just weeks after this group was brought together in full — is an interesting measuring stick for the Knicks, a chance to show off the new roster on national television against the team that is the hurdle for everyone. Brunson insisted that it’s not too soon to put that to the test.
“No. Not at all,” Brunson said. “I think obviously if you win the previous season and you have, I guess, almost everyone back, I think everyone's back, you're in a good position to do good things the following year, so this is a good test for us. I mean, obviously, they're a great team and we got to see where we are.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
