TO’s & Threes – Celtics Column 04/20/26
By Vinny Jace, Special to the15net dot com:
Heading into the playoffs, the Celtics’ remaining questions center on whether they can beat the team best suited to face them. The New York Knicks have won seven of their previous ten matchups against Boston since the 2025 playoffs. Their wing depth—consisting of Mikal Bridges, O.G. Anunoby, and Josh Hart—presents unique challenges for the Celtics’ wings. The trio finds ways to shrink the floor, stifle Boston’s ball movement, and convert those disruptions into points on their end of the floor with clockwork efficiency.
On top of that, dynamic guard Jalen Brunson has made mincemeat of All-Defender Derrick White. In their previous two outings, Brunson has been electric: he scored 31 points in the Knicks’ February 8th drubbing of Boston, followed by a 25-point, 10-assist performance earlier this week. The Celtics have tried adding a wrinkle to their coverage by throwing bigger bodies like Jordan Walsh on him. It worked in their December 2nd matchup, which was Brunson’s worst outing against Boston this year—he was limited to just 15 points.
The caveat to all these losses is that Boston has never faced New York with both Jays available. Typically, the Celtics prefer to sag off New York’s “non-shooters” such as Hart, but that approach is now complicated because Hart is no longer a liability. His three-point percentage this season sits at a healthy 41%. Against Boston in this previous contest, it soars to 71%.
The unique issue the Knicks present is that they are no longer as reliant on Brunson as they were in the past.
Mazzulla doesn’t appear to regret his strategy of sagging off Hart. If a scheme alteration isn’t in the cards, perhaps he is betting that a healthy Tatum paired with Brown will overwhelm and exhaust Hart, leading to a less reliable jump shot. New York’s use of Hart against Boston has been crucial to their success. The Knicks also find ways to neutralize Neemias Queta by switching him onto smaller, quicker players and dragging him away from his preferred station near the basket. Queta’s matchups against New York haven’t been encouraging, he’s often been bested by Karl-Anthony Towns and outmuscled by the athletic Mitchell Robinson.
The February acquisition of Nikola Vučević leads me to believe the plan isn’t to win the battle on the boards, but to make the most of their first chances. Vučević subtly got into a groove in the second half against New York, and it opened the paint up for cutting action.
The Celtics will likely rely on Vučević more than Luka Garza in a hypothetical matchup against the Knicks. Despite Vučević’s defensive shortcomings, his veteran savvy and ability to space the floor make him the better option. While Vučević remains inconsistent, he poses at least a semblance of an outside threat that forces the Knicks to pay attention to him. Garza’s slower feet, lack of athleticism, and rim-centered game make him far less of a threat. Though Garza has shown flashes of brilliance, they’ve mostly come against teams without notable pedigree and in relatively low-stakes contests.
The adjustments I can see Mazzulla making the next time these teams meet include placing White on Hart, assigning Brown, Tatum, or Walsh to Brunson, and using Vučević to drag Robinson away from the rim. A potential rematch series will be won in the trenches—in the pillboxes and scrums—and it won’t look pretty. Either the Knicks will rip the Celtics’ heart out, or vice versa. The only thing I’m certain of is that neither team will go down easy.
Vinny Jace is a special contributor to The15net.com. He does not live in any of the five boroughs of New York.
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