The Boston Celtics are headed to New York down 0-2 in the Eastern Conference semifinals after bringing up double digits in two consecutive games. The New York Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit in the third quarter to take a 91-90 win over Boston in front of 19,156 fans at the TD Garden on Wednesday.
New York outscored the Celtics 30-17 in the fourth quarter. The irony for the Knicks being that they were able to stay fresh enough on the court to come from behind despite head coach Tom Thibodeau utilizing a philosophy of playing his star players more minutes than most teams during the regular season.
The New York Knicks are up 2-0 after 4th quarter comebacks
During the regular season, Knicks shooting guard Josh Hart called haters of the philosophy “minutes police.”
“Every year, it’s the same thing. We do the same thing as always,” Hart said “We have a couple bad games, a couple losses in a row and all y’all cry about minutes, be the minute police and all that,” he said. “That’s all outside noise. We’re gonna play the game the way we’re supposed to play it. We’re gonna play as hard as we can when we’re out there.”
On Wednesday night, Karl-Anthony Towns was the only starter for New York who played fewer than 38 minutes. He played 35. Boston starters Al Horford (29) and Jrue Holiday (34) played fewer than 35 minutes.
In the first two games of the series, New York has outscored the Celtics 63-39 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Basketball fans mock the minutes police
Basketball fans on social media took to social media to mock the minutes police who doubted the Knicks.
“Another W vs the minutes police,” wrote a fan.
“Where you at minutes police?? All playoffs the Knicks looked like the team with all the gas in every 4th quarter,” posted another.
“Where are them minutes police that were crying all year?? No fatigue in the fourth cause they are tested all year,” suggested a fan.
“Minutes police should realize that Thibs plays his guys so they are in position to close out these games,” argued a poster.
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