Boston Celtics? More like the CeLOLtics
Good morning, Winners! This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Here’s Mike Sykes.
Watching the Boston Celtics blow a 20-point lead in Game 1 was extremely weird and out of character for the defending champions. But, hey! It happens. No lead is safe in today's NBA with the volatility of the 3-pointer.
But that was Game 1. There's no way Boston would do that again. Right? Right? RIGHT?
Wrong.
For a second game in a row, the Celtics blew another 20-point lead to the Knicks. The game came down to the final possession and, again, Boston didn't even get a shot up because of some tough defense from Mikal Bridges.
What an unbelievable moment. If I'm being honest, this may have been a bit worse than Game 1.
EVERYONE IS LAUGHING: Fans trolled the Celtics for doing the thing again.
Boston led the Knicks the entire way, much like Game 1. The lead ballooned to 20 points with 2:18 left on the clock in the third quarter after a Kristaps Porzingis 3-pointer. Boston led 73-53 at that point. Apparently, New York had them right where they wanted them.
The Knicks outscored the Celtics 38-17 the rest of the way. Boston missed 13 straight shots in the fourth quarter and shot 10-of-40 from 3-point range in the game. Mikal Bridges scored 14 points after going scoreless the entire game. And, again, Bridges also secured the final stop on Jayson Tatum with the clock winding down in this one.
This is one of those games that you watch and, 12 hours later, you still can't believe it happened. Another blown 20-point lead in back-to-back playoff games? It's been a long time since we've seen anything like this. In fact, the last time a team blew at least two 20-point leads was in 1998, according to ESPN. It's been that long.
Now, they've got Paul Pierce walking to work.
While Boston is surely down right now, we shouldn't count them out of this series. The Celtics are defending champions until they aren't. We've seen this team do special things before. It's possible they snap out of whatever funk they're in right now and do it again.
But the Celtics' offense just isn't working. They've missed 75 out of the 100 3-pointers they've taken in this series. Jaylen Brown is 15-43 from the field. Jayson Tatum is 12-42 from the field. The two stars have combined to make eight total 3-pointers through two games so far. That's not Celtics basketball. They're better than this. The Knicks' defense is good, but it's not that good. Some of this is just bad shooting luck that should eventually turn around.
But that's the problem. We're waiting for this to turn around to happen, and there's a chance it just ... doesn't. When things are clicking for the Celtics? They look like they'd smoke the Monstars. When they're not? They look like a team playing its fifth game of the day at the LA Fitness court. It's hard to know what to expect. We've seen these dry spells from Boston before.
At the same time, the Knicks aren't shooting well, either. We haven't had the Jalen Brunson game yet. Their offense is usually much better than this and New York has a 2-0 series lead with two straight home games coming up. This series is there for the taking.
White Sox baseball, folks
It really doesn't get more embarrassing than the White Sox's loss to the Royals. Andrew Joseph has the details on the situation:
"With the White Sox leading the Royals by a run in the bottom of the ninth, a leadoff walk to Mark Canha put the pressure on pitcher Cam Booser. But three pitches later, he seemingly did just what he needed to do with forcing Drew Waters into a routine popup to second.
Except White Sox second baseman Chase Meidroth turned the play into a live comedic performance for the Royals dugout."
Can someone throw some Yakety Sax over this?
You've got to feel for White Sox fans, who don't deserve this. It's frustrating. One week, you're talking about how the team has as many 7-plus run wins as the Cubs. The next week, we're watching routine outs bounce off Chase Meidroth's glove. You really can't make this up.
A job for Superman
The Warriors will have a chance to make their own series 2-0 tonight on the road in Minnesota, but they'll have to do it without Stephen Curry, who is out with a hamstring injury.
Jimmy Butler has been talking a lot about Batman and Robin lately, comparing the dynamic duo to himself and Curry with Steph in the role of Batman. But, if the Warriors want a chance to win this series, Butler will need to pull out the Superman cape again, our Prince Grimes writes in Layup Lines:
"That's why it won't be enough for Butler to simply fill the shoes of Golden State's injured Batman - because he won't have a consistently reliable No. 2 option like Curry did with himself. Butler will have to be Superman. He'll have to do a lot of the heavy lifting on his own. Luckily for the Warriors, it's a role he's very familiar with.
Butler is only two years removed from carrying an arguably less-talented Miami Heat roster to the NBA Finals -- and he did it twice in four years. The Warriors are only asking him to do it for a series -- albeit a difficult one against another Superman-like player, Anthony Edwards. And Butler will still have a solid cast of role players to help, including Draymond Green, Podziemski and yes, Hield."
My question is whether Butler still has that in him. He's 35 years old now, which isn't necessarily that old by NBA standards. But he's not in his prime anymore. It'll take a lot to lift the Warriors without Curry — especially with Anthony Edwards staring you down from the other side.
I'm not saying he can't do it — I am saying I don't expect him to.
Quick hits: NFL trades we'd love ... Road teams make history ... and more
— Here's Cory Woodroof with 10 NFL trades we'd absolutely love to see this summer. Cory does amazing work, y'all. Always read Woodroof.
— Here's Bryan Kalbrosky on the history being made by teams on the road to start the second round of the NBA playoffs.
— Joe Mazzulla left a timeout on the table. That's never good. Charles Curtis has more on this.
— Shaq is so unserious. I love it.
— Robert Zeglinski says Chris Finch is complaining too much about the Warriors' physicality.
— Stephen A. Smith is calling out Darius Garland for not playing through turf toe. That's a tough spot to be in.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️