{"id":592409,"date":"2026-02-09T12:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T12:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/592409\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T12:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T12:13:13","slug":"10-takeaways-as-knicks-snap-celtics-5-game-win-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/592409\/","title":{"rendered":"10 takeaways as Knicks snap Celtics\u2019 5-game win streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Sunday\u2019s 111-89 loss<\/a> to the Knicks, the Celtics<\/a> had been 7-1 when playing on a Patriots Super Bowl Sunday.<\/p>\n

According to statistician Dick Lipe<\/a>, the lone loss came in 2015, when the Celtics scored just 75 points against the Heat. Later that night, however, the Patriots rallied to earn a thrilling, 28-24, triumph over the Seahawks. Time will tell if history repeats itself, yet it\u2019s an interesting trend to monitor nonetheless.<\/p>\n

Here are 10 takeaways as the Knicks deprived the Celtics of their cementing sixth consecutive victory.<\/p>\n

This was one of those games where living and dying by the 3 can sometimes yield a slow and painful death.<\/p>\n

The Celtics shot 7 of 41 (17 percent) from distance, posting a season low in points, field-goal percentage (37), 3-point percentage and 3-pointers. Some of the looks just didn\u2019t fall, some were ill-advised attempts and the Knicks certainly deserve plenty of credit for bothering the Celtics with their length.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no denying it. Jalen Brunson (31 points, eight assists) is one tough dude, and he\u2019s in his element as the head of the snake for the Knicks.<\/p>\n

Brunson set the tone early with 15 points and four assists in the first quarter alone. He was average after that, but the damage had been done.<\/p>\n

The Knicks may have made a major theft of their own by snatching Jose Alvarado. He gives New York a different look to accompany Landry Shamet and is a true terror defensively. When he hits shots, watch out.<\/p>\n

Baylor Scheierman was a bright spot for Boston, as he posted 10 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and five assists in the loss.<\/p>\n

Scheierman is averaging 10 rebounds per game in his last four contests and is starting to showcase the versatility that made him special in college.<\/p>\n

At his core, Scheierman is someone who can make plays, hit shots, battle on the glass, defend at a high level and use his basketball IQ to spearhead runs. He\u2019s starting to do that all at once more consistently.<\/p>\n

Nikola Vucevic had a pretty average game, with 11 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes, but it\u2019s still worth taking a closer look at his performance.<\/p>\n

The Celtics are really making a conscious effort to look for him in the paint, which is exactly what they should do. Vucevic commands so much attention and is a very skilled passer out of the post.<\/p>\n

The chemistry is already there, and it will continue to grow in the coming months as he makes life easier for shooters like Payton Pritchard and Derrick White.<\/p>\n

Derrick White contributed 19 points and four assists to go with Jaylen Brown\u2019s team-high 26 points. This was White\u2019s first game shooting 50 percent or better (7 of 14) since late January.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s still managed to affect the game in other ways, from shot-blocking to pace-setting, but perhaps he can use this performance as a springboard to bolster his shooting splits.<\/p>\n

The Celtics scored 3 points off turnovers against the Knicks, marking their lowest total since 2021.<\/p>\n

The Knicks, meanwhile, scored 16 fast-break points and got plenty of easy looks. It was one of those games where the Celtics had to work hard for everything and the Knicks seemed to generate high-quality attempts at will.<\/p>\n

The Celtics missed Sam Hauser (low back spasms) in this one and could have used his spacing and shooting. Anfernee Simons also would have helped (it was still a good move).<\/p>\n

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mixed and matched, turning to Ron Harper Jr., Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh and more, but nothing worked for extended stretches.<\/p>\n

The Celtics are now 1-2 against the Knicks this season, with both losses coming by double digits. After sweeping the regular-season series last year, they\u2019re just a combined 3-6 in playoff and regular-season games since.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s enough of a sample size where it\u2019s fair to be a bit concerned if they meet again. The Knicks are a difficult matchup for the Celtics because of their combination of size, shooting, speed and star power.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just one game, and in a long season, duds like this are going to happen. An important stretch before the All-Star Game awaits, with games against the Bulls on Wednesday and Warriors on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Celtics have still won five of six and 10 of 14. No need to panic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Sunday\u2019s 111-89 loss to the Knicks, the Celtics had been 7-1 when playing on a Patriots Super…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,37650,3798,46,1206,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-592409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-boston-celtics-articles","12":"tag-bostonceltics","13":"tag-celtics","14":"tag-celtics-analysis","15":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116040617503635047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592409","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=592409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}