Having put themselves in the driving seat with two hard-fought away wins, the New York Knicks will be aiming to put the Boston Celtics to the sword once again in Saturday's Game Three at Madison Square Garden.
For the Celtics, it is all about getting themselves back on track as they look to avoid going 3-0 down, which would all but spell the end of their championship defence.
Match preview
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The 2025 playoffs have undoubtedly been littered with insane comebacks, and lightning struck twice for the Knicks in the space of five days as they erased a 20-point deficit to take Game Two at TD Garden on Thursday morning.
While Tom Thibodeau's men needed overtime to get the job done in Game One after restoring parity from being down by 20, they were able to complete the job done in regulation time this time around as Jalen Brunson came up clutch once again with two late free throws to seal a 91-90 win.
Tallying his first 20-point game of the current playoffs, Josh Hart was instrumental for the Knicks at both ends of the floor, especially down the stretch in the fourth quarter, where he recorded five rebounds and two blocks.
Now in possession of a 2-0 lead in the series, the Knicks have bucked a disastrous trend from the regular season which saw them lose each of their four meetings against the Celtics by a combined margin of 65 points.
Currently halfway through reaching their first Eastern Conference finals since 2000, Saturday's hosts have the chance to move within one victory of putting the seal on proceedings before Tuesday's Game Four.
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The Boston Celtics were the first team to face the new-look Knicks in October's curtain-raiser, where they cruised to a 132-109 triumph that set the tone for the remainder of the sides' regular-season matchups.
However, Joe Mazzulla's men just about managed to edge the last of those meetings in overtime, suggesting that the Knicks were beginning to figure out how best to face the defending champions, as evident in the first two matches of the sides' playoff duel.
In keeping with their shambolic three-point shooting from Game One, where they only knocked down a quarter of their 60 attempts from beyond the arc, the Celtics, who led the league in three-pointers made, also shot 25% from threes in Game Two, albeit on a much smaller volume this time around.
Talisman Jayson Tatum endured another rough outing as he managed just 13 points to take his average for the series to 18 points per game, a vast underperformance from the 33.5 per game he averaged against the same opponents during the regular season.
A 2-0 series deficit typically represents a huge mountain to climb, but if there is a team who can rise up to the occasion, it is definitely the Boston Celtics, who came back from 3-0 down to level matters in the 2023 conference finals against the Miami Heat before ultimately falling short at the final hurdle.
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Team News
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After three straight matches scoring less than 20 points, Karl-Anthony Towns looked back to his best with a 21-point, 17-rebound double-double on 9-16 shooting last time out.
Off the back of his game-high 29 points in the opening clash, OG Anunoby endured a disappointing outing in Game Two, putting up just five points in 38 minutes of action.
Sam Hauser was absent for the Boston Celtics in Thursday's defeat due to an ankle issue, and the 27-year-old is a huge doubt to feature this weekend as well.
Due to his struggles of late, Latvia international Kristaps Porzingis has lost his starting berth to Al Horford and will need to rediscover his form to return to the lineup.
New York Knicks possible starting five:
Brunson, Hart; Bridges, Anunoby; Towns
Boston Celtics possible starting five:
Holiday, White; Brown, Tatum; Horford
We say: Knicks to win by 4+ points
The Knicks have put themselves in pole position to progress into the next round and are set to be greeted by a roaring home support at the Garden here.
We can see the hosts getting the better of their visitors once again to take the penultimate step towards reaching the conference finals.
Adepoju Marvellous
