Can the Knicks hang with the Celtics’ high-powered offense?
USA TODAY Sports’ Lorenzo Reyes breaks down the second-round matchup between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.
Sports Pulse
Watching the New York Knicks go up 2-0 on the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals conjures up playoff memories for Charles Barkley.
“I’m one of the few people in the world who have been in this situation twice,” Barkley said during TNT’s Inside The NBA on Wednesday night, May 7.
The second-seeded Celtics have lost Game 1 and Game 2 at home to the third-seeded Knicks. Game 3 is May 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The Phoenix Suns experienced the same thing in the first round of the 1993 Western Conference playoffs in Barkley’s first year with them. The Los Angeles Lakers took the first two games in Phoenix as the Suns were the No. 1 overall seed.
That led to then-Suns head coach Paul Westphal’s guarantee.
“We’re down 0-2 and I know what the next question is. Are you guys dead?” Westphal said in the Game 2 postgame press conference. “No, we’re going to win the series. We’re going to win one Tuesday. Then the next game is Thursday. We’ll win there (in Los Angeles) and then we’ll come back and win the series on Sunday. Everybody will say what a great series it was.”
Phoenix proceeded to take the next three games to win the best-of-5 series, as Westphal predicted.
30 years ago today: With Phoenix down 0-2 to the Lakers in a best-of-5 series, Suns coach Paul Westphal guarantees his team will win the next three games and become the first NBA team to win an opening-round playoff series after losing its first two games at home.
May 2, 1993. pic.twitter.com/7ZRx6IGVNi
— NBA Cobwebs (@NBACobwebs) May 2, 2023
“I remember telling the guys, I said, ‘Guys, all we got to do is get the first one,’” Barkley recalls. “’Cause then the pressure switches back to (the Lakers).”
The Suns advanced past the San Antonio Spurs and Seattle SuperSonics to reach the 1993 finals, but they lost to Michael Jordan and the three-peat Chicago Bulls. Three of Phoenix’s four losses were at home.
The next year, Phoenix, like New York has done against Boston, won Games 1 and 2 on the road against the Houston Rockets in the 1994 Western Conference semifinals.
That led to the Houston Chronicle’s “Choke City” headline, but the Rockets captured the next three games in winning the series in seven over the Suns.
“I remember telling the guys, ‘Guys, we cannot go back to Houston (tied) 2-2,’” Barkley recalls. “I said, ‘We’ve got to win Game 3.’”
The Suns were a third seed while the Rockets were seeded second. Thirty years later, the Knicks have a chance to take a commanding 3-0 lead over the Celtics after winning two in Boston by four total points.
“It’s going to sound stupid. Game 3 is a must-win for the Knicks,” Barkley said. “Boston has got a better team. They’ve been up 20 (points), but I’m telling you, being in that situation twice, you’ve got to win that third game. I still thought we were going to win the series when we lost Game 3, but it actually flips the mental picture.”
“I’m one of the few people in the world who have been in this situation.”
Charles Barkley as Celtics have lost Game 1 and 2 at home to Knicks.
Suns did same thing with Barkley 1993 vs Lakers in best-of-5. Won series.
Up 2-0 vs Rockets 1994, 1995. Lost both series in 7. #Suns pic.twitter.com/pz1nMl0W6N
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) May 8, 2025
How Houston fell behind 2-0 to Phoenix in the 1994 series is similar to how Boston dropped the first two games at home to New York.
The Rockets blew an 18-point lead in Game 1 and squandered a 20-point advantage in the fourth quarter of Game 2 in a 124-117 overtime loss.
The Celtics led Game 1 and Game 2 by 20 points in the second half before losing each one.
New York fell behind, 75-55, with 5:47 left in the third quarter, but won Game 1 in overtime, 108-105.
Two nights later, Boston built a 73-53 advantage with 3:12 remaining in the third, but New York once again rallied back, winning Game 2 by a single point, 91-90.
The Knicks closed Game 2 on a 23-6 surge. In the Suns-Rockets 1994 series, Phoenix went on a stunning 42-15 run in the final 15 minutes of Game 2.
“Paul Westphal said, ‘Guys, just start taking a bunch of 3s for like five minutes,’” Barkley recalls. “He said, ‘Guys, I’m going to give you all five minutes cause we got to get ready for Game 3. He said just jack up a bunch of 3s. You know (Dan) Majerle and (Danny) Ainge loved that and before you know, we had it down to 15 and then we get it to 10.”
The Suns closed the fourth on a 24-4 blast to force overtime. Majerle splashed a transition 3 to pull Phoenix within single digits, 105-98, and Ainge nailed one to tie the game, 108-108, with 32.9 seconds left in regulation.
For the game, Majerle shot 5-of-9 from 3, Barkley hit half of his six 3-point attempts and Ainge went 2-of-8. Barkley’s corner 3 put Phoenix ahead, 116-111, with two minutes remaining in overtime.
That Game 2 collapse led to Vernon Maxwell blasting the Rockets fans as The Summit wasn’t sold out that night in Houston.
“Our fans are the worst,” Maxwell said as reported by the Houston Chronicle. “And you can write that. Tell them I said that. To hell with them. We can’t even sell out the second round of the playoffs. We were up in Portland the other night and couldn’t even hear on the court. And now, we’re home and the fans are booing us. That’s not what we need. When we make a mistake and get down, we need to be picked up. To hell with them.”
Kenny Smith was Maxwell’s backcourt mate.
Sitting in his usual chair beside Barkley in TNT’s Studio J in Atlanta, Smith said the Rockets remained confident despite losing the first two games to the Suns at home.
“We can get up 20 on these guys,” Smith said. “We just have to sustain it. It was like, OK, what did they do that allowed us to get up 20? Can we do that again? And we’re like, yeah. And then, what did we do to allow them to get back. And really what it is, we got tight.”
Smith felt a road victory in Game 3 would put pressure on Phoenix in Game 4. The Rockets took care of business, 118-102, as Maxwell scored 31 of his 34 points in the second half.
Houston then handled Game 4 in Phoenix, 107-96, to even the series.
The Rockets and Suns met again in the second round of the 1995 playoffs. Phoenix was the higher seed this time against the defending NBA champion Rockets.
The second-seeded Suns took a 2-0 series lead over the sixth-seeded Rockets. They once again lost Game 3, but won Game 4 to take a 3-1 series lead.
Houston won the next three to stun the Suns and advance to the conference finals.
Mario Elie’s corner 3 plus a kiss with 7.1 seconds left gave Houston a 115-114 thriller in Game 7.
The Rockets proceeded to win back-to-back NBA championships, sweeping Shaquille O’Neal and the Orlando Magic in the 1995 finals.
(This story has been updated to add or change a gallery.)
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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