The New York Knicks earned their first Eastern Conference finals berth since 2000 with a 119-81 Game 6 victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. The game wasn't in doubt after the first quarter, as New York absolutely dominated both ends of the floor. It was the largest playoff victory in franchise history.
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The Knicks will face the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals, with Game 1 set for Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
Here are a few takeaways from New York's Game 6 win.
The new guys lived up to the hype
The Knicks built this team, at least to an extent, to compete with Boston. They gave up five first-round picks to get Mikal Bridges because they thought having him, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby would give them the wings they needed to contain Boston's stars. They went after Karl-Anthony Towns to fill in for the injured Mitchell Robinson, yes, but also to give themselves the five-out spacing that made Boston so lethal last season. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The Celtics won a championship last season, and the Knicks emulated a lot of their roster build this year.
Well, who set the tone in the Game 6 clincher? Towns and Bridges scored 25 of the first 33 points for New York on Friday. Towns' strength and physicality, even without his 3-pointer falling, has helped the Knicks bully the undermanned Celtics. Bridges made game-winning defensive plays in both Games 1 and 2, and his shot-making was critical in Game 4. If the Knicks didn't have both, they easily could have lost this series. Leon Rose's moves were justified with how the Boston matchup played out.
Have the Knicks finally found their bench?
No team leans on its starters more than the Knicks. The five-man unit of Towns, Hart, Anunoby, Bridges and Jalen Brunson played 940 minutes this season. Only two other lineups in all of basketball reached even half of that figure. But that starting lineup, for most of the series, has struggled. The Knicks have only really thrived when one of the reserves have been in.
Fortunately, their sixth and seventh men were absolutely sensational against Boston. Mitchell Robinson, back from an ankle injury, has given New York the rim-protector it has lacked all season. Now that he's starting to move like he did when he was healthy, the Knicks can far more easily pivot between small and big lineups, or offense- and defense-centric ones. Deuce McBride's shot has been just as important. Whenever the Knicks offense has stalled in this series, he's managed to come up with a big bucket to bring the team back to life.
The Knicks are about to play the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. The Pacers are certainly the deepest team in the East and perhaps the deepest team in the NBA. The Knicks were never going to beat them with five players, and part of what doomed them in last year's playoffs was how little they got out of their bench after starters kept getting injured. If McBride and Robinson play like they did against Boston next round, though, the Knicks may well be headed to the NBA Finals.
Is this what life after Jayson Tatum looks like?
In Game 5, at least, the Celtics looked like they'd be somewhat competitive without Jayson Tatum. Their offense was crisp and intentional, seeking out mismatches and taking all of the shots Joe Mazzulla wants them taking. But Game 6 was a disaster. Jaylen Brown was pretty much the only Celtic capable of generating his own offense during the competitive portion of the game. It took one game and two days of film study for the Knicks to solve the post-Tatum Celtics.
So this raises an important question as Boston moves into a suddenly critical offseason: Is this how things are going to be when Tatum is out? The truthful answer is probably somewhere between Games 5 and 6. No, they're not the worst offense in the NBA without Tatum, but there's just no way they can reasonably compete with opponents like the Knicks without him either. That does offer a bit of clarity, at least. If Tatum is going to miss next season, and the history of Achilles tears suggests that is the likeliest outcome, Boston is probably going to treat next season as a bit of a gap year.
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There's no sense in holding onto all of their expensive veterans if this is how they'll look next year without Tatum. As of now, Boston is projected to have a $493 million payroll before even filling out the roster. If they had meaningfully competed with New York in Game 6, they might have been able to justify paying most of that money next season for a first- or second-round exit. Now? Expect them to explore trades for several of their older players, including Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis.
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Final: Knicks 119, Celtics 81
(Knicks win series, 4-2)
The party is on at Madison Square Garden as the New York Knicks are returning to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000. Ironically, they will be meeting the same opponent they faced back then, their old rivals the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers beat the Knicks last season, but New York has home court advantage and a healthier roster this time around. With the defending champion Celtics now slain, this is the best chance the Knicks have had to end their championship drought in at least 25 years.
Everyone chipped in for the Knicks in this big victory. All starters except Josh Hart reached 20 points, and Hart had a triple-double. Mitchell Robinson's defense was one of the catalysts for the second-quarter run that ultimately put the game away for New York. Deuce McBride's hot shooting continued, and now, the Knicks have seven truly reliable rotation players heading into the Indiana series.
The Celtics, meanwhile, take a 38-point shellacking to end their championship defense. With Jayson Tatum presumably out for next season with a torn Achilles, Boston has some soul-searching to do. They'll have to address their gargantuan projected $493 million pay roll, and they'll likely have to get younger ahead of Tatum's eventual return as well. This was probably the last time we see this version of the Celtics, and they unfortunately went out with a whimper.
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Halftime: Knicks 64, Celtics 37
I suppose nothing is certain in these wild 2025 NBA playoffs, but it looks like the New York Knicks are headed to the Eastern Conference finals. Game 6 of their second-round series against the Celtics has been a laugher so far. Boston, playing without star forward Jayson Tatum, just hasn't been able to get anything going on offense, while the Knicks are playing what is unquestionably their best game of the postseason.
Leading the way for New York are the two big names they acquired last offseason. Karl-Anthony Towns leads the team with 16 points, and Mikal Bridges is right behind him at 12. Pair that production with one of the better defensive games the Knicks have played this season and New York has been in control of this one pretty much since the beginning of the second quarter.
The Celtics, meanwhile, are leaning almost entirely on their last remaining All-Star. Jaylen Brown has 18 of Boston's 37 points at the half, but nobody else can generate a bucket for the Celtics. It's a sad ending to Boston's once promising title defense, but with Tatum out, this group just doesn't have enough to win a game of this magnitude at Madison Square Garden.
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The Celtics can't get anything going
The Celtics showed the heart of a champion when they protected their home floor in Game 5, but now, the reality of playing without Jayson Tatum is really starting to set in here in Game 6. The Celtics have only 28 points in roughly 20 minutes of play. Every time it looks like they might get something going, the Knicks bust out a highlight defensive play like Deuce McBride's transition block of Derrick White. It looks like Boston's title defense is ending tonight at Madison Square Garden.
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The offseason acquisitions leading the way for the Knicks
The point of New York's aggressive offseason was, ultimately, to help the Knicks compete with and defeat the Celtics. Well, in the possible clincher, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges are doing everything for New York. They have 25 of New York's 33 points, not only potentially helping them finish this series, but building confidence for next round's matchup with the Indiana Pacers. Leon Rose's moves are looking really good in Game 6, and that might be enough to get the Knicks back to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000.
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Jaylen Brown starring in a low-scoring first quarter
It's been a tense 12 minutes at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks know this is their best chance to close the Celtics out, and Boston is still adjusting to life without Jayson Tatum. The result has been a game that has thus far been dominated by defense. The Knicks finally started to heat up at the end of the frame, but it's still only 26-20 in favor of New York. Jaylen Brown's 13 points have kept Boston alive, but Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, the two stars the Knicks spent most of their trade chips to acquire last offseason, have 21 of New York's 26 to put the Knicks on top.
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Celtics make lineup change
Luke Kornet, not Kristaps Porziņģis, is in Boston's starting lineup on Friday night. Kornet came up big in Game 5 on Wednesday, while Porziņģis has struggled with an illness throughout the postseason.
