New York steals (Mikal Bridges literally) Game 1 from Boston in overtime thriller

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, were you happy with your team’s shot selection in Game 1?

“For the most part,” he answered.

That explains a lot of this game. Boston followed Mazzulla’s blueprint and launched 60 3-pointers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semi-Final matchup with New York, missing 45 (an NBA record) and hitting just 15 of them, or 25%. Boston shooters missed a lot of open ones, but overall they also took a lot of difficult, contested ones, as well as tough shots in the paint.

“Some of them felt good, some of them felt like we maybe forced the issue,” Jaylen Brown said. “Definitely our rhythm and our timing was a little bit off. We got a lot of great looks, but there may be some truth to that. We’ve got to look at the film and see what happened in that second half.”

The Celtics had success early with matchup hunting — Jayson Tatum going after Karl-Anthony Towns, getting the big man in foul trouble — and led by as many as 20 in the third quarter. Then Boston’s shooting dried up.

The Knicks were the definition of resilient and, with a 20-6 run in the second half of the third quarter, stormed back to make it a game. Jalen Brunson was doing his own matchup hunting, going at Al Horford, and it worked.

The game went to overtime, and what sealed it more than anything was Mikal Bridges’ defense.

The result was a 108-105 New York win that has the Knicks up 1-0 on the road and left Celtics faithful stunned and confused.

Boston, as it had at points during the season, stuck with what wasn’t working and didn’t shift enough to getting buckets in the paint, or even good looks from the midrage (the Celtics were 2-6 on shots outside the paint but inside the arc). Meanwhile, Jalen Brunson just kept making plays on his way to 29 points, and OG Anunoby matched him bucket for bucket.