The Boston Celtics, despite their championship pedigree and hefty price tag, started their playoff series against the Knicks with a questionable game plan. Their reliance on three-point shooting, reminiscent of a video game, lacks depth and a Plan B.
The article criticizes the Celtics' one-dimensional approach, highlighting their lack of strategic adaptability in Games 1 and 2. This raises concerns about their ability to overcome opponents who might successfully defend their primary strategy.
Interestingly, the Boston crowd appears equally enthralled with this potentially flawed strategy, contrasting with the eras of legendary players like Bill Russell and Larry Bird.
In this, the Age of No Good Reason, it made for twisted logic:
The Celtics, last year’s champs, who recently sold for $6.1 billion, began their playoff round with the Knicks as heavy favorites. That’s how well and often they shoot 3s in a league that has sacrificed righteous basketball to emulate a video game that would be rated IEE — for immature, easily entertained audiences.
But the Boston crowd, a generation or two removed from Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Dave Cowens, John Havlicek and Dennis Johnson, seemed at least as excited by the Celts’ one-trick teams as those that first defined pro basketball as worthy of our time, money and full attention.
And so, in Games 1 and 2, both at home vs. the Knicks, the Celtics — a professional, exorbitantly paid team — played without a Plan B.
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