{"id":36094,"date":"2025-05-16T02:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T02:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/36094\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T02:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T02:31:11","slug":"what-paul-pierce-expects-from-celtics-knicks-game-6-get-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/36094\/","title":{"rendered":"What Paul Pierce Expects From Celtics-Knicks Game 6: ‘Get Ready’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce is counting out the reigning champs just yet. <\/p>\n

Without Jayson Tatum and an illness-hampered Kristaps Porzingis<\/a>, the Celtics pulled off the improbable in Game 5 against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. Boston defended its home court with a season-saving 127-102 victory<\/a> at TD Garden, which forced New York to a Game 6 set for Friday night at Madison Square Garden. The unforeseen circumstances weren\u2019t enough to sink the Celtics yet, and the team has found new life. <\/p>\n

EDITOR\u2019S PICKS <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tHow Celtics Should Manage Kristaps Porzingis Debacle In Game 6 Vs. Knicks<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby Gio Rivera
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5 Min Read\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tCeltics Sale To Bill Chisholm Reportedly Takes Next Key Step<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby Greg Dudek
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2 Min Read\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Pierce, tuning in and rooting along the ride, too, felt re-energized. The 2008 NBA Finals MVP even offered a bold prediction as the series continues. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys are gonna play hard, they\u2019re not gonna lay down,\u201d Pierce said on FS1\u2019s \u201cSpeak\u201d<\/a> on Thursday. \u201cThey are the reigning champs, like I said, and I expect a fight come Friday. And I expect the Boston faithful to get ready for Game 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics fired off on all cylinders, as Jaylen Brown and Derrick White combined for 60 points to lead the charge. Porzingis failed to play beyond 12 minutes, forcing head coach Joe Mazzulla to summon backup center Luke Kornet<\/a> \u2014 a move that completely changed the trajectory of the night for Boston. Kornet finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and a career-high seven blocks, which fell short of the team\u2019s franchise record for blocks in a playoff game (10), set by Robert Williams III. <\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

New York, on the other hand, was deflated. Jalen Brunson fouled out<\/a> with 4:53 left in the fourth quarter, Karl-Anthony Towns shot just 5-of-11 from the floor and the Knicks were handed a rude reminder: the series isn\u2019t over until someone wins four games.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Pierce feels as though the Celtics shouldn\u2019t have stunned anyone because, in his mind, they played up to their potential. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t really prove nothing I didn\u2019t already know,\u201d Pierce said. \u201cI knew they\u2019d have heart. I knew they were resilient. I knew they could play well without Tatum. They\u2019re \u2014 like we\u2019ve said before \u2014 what? 10-2 without Jayson Tatum this year, 8-2 during the season, 2-0 during the playoffs now, and they have resolve. Now they can prove something to me if they can push it to Game 7. That would say a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown, White, Kornet, Al Horford, Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser all experienced a nearly identical situation two seasons ago when the Celtics fell into a 3-0 deficit against the Miami Heat in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals. Boston fought back to force a Game 7 and faltered, however, that was before the team\u2019s core had the experience of having won a championship together. <\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

It still won\u2019t be easy, but the Celtics aren\u2019t done yet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce is counting out the reigning champs just yet. Without Jayson Tatum and an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806,2078],"class_list":{"0":"post-36094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-knicks","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkknicks","15":"tag-paul-pierce"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114515167523715082","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}