Kendrick Perkins speaks with Jason Tatum `OT loss against the New York Knicks.
The Boston Celtics are the NBA defending champions. Obviously, they are considered one of their favorites to win the 2025 NBA title.
The Celtics remained true to their predictions after finishing as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Plus, CS had no problem dealing with Orlando’s magic in the opening round of the playoffs.
Fans were hoping for a similar result in the semi-finals of the conference, but Game 1 failed to get the goodwill of the reality champions.
Game 1 between the Celtics and the New York Knicks went down on the wire as the four quarters weren’t enough to separate both sides.
However, the final score was 108-105, which was in favor of the visitors, so the Knicks left with overtime win.
After the game, NBA analyst and former Celtics forward Kendrick Perkins got ballistic at Jason Tatum via his official X-handle.
“Tatum just drop the guy on the hill! Stop calming down for all these damn 3 pointers,” Perkins writes.
It’s clear that Big Perk wants JT to rely more on other aspects of the game, rather than chucking a 3-point shot. Perkins also praised the Knicks for their defense in Game 1.
“The Knicks are now like a pack of wild hyenas in defense,” Perkins tweeted.
Throughout the regular season, head coach Joe Mazzola gave his players the green light to film the number of three pointers needed to win the game.
The strategy backfired several times, but overall it worked well. However, playoff basketball is different, and manager Mazzola’s strategy has become useless against the Knicks in Game 1.
The Celtics tried a 3-pointer for 60, but ended up making a 15. The Celtics also broke NBA playoff records as they missed most of the three-pointers in the game.
At the heart of this terrible three-point shooting night, Tatum was a quarter of Deep. Derrick White and Jalen Brown were also terrible, showing 1/16 and 1/10 from the 3-point land.