The 2025 NBA Playoffs heat up as Round 2 delivers high-stakes showdowns between veteran squads and rising stars, with rivalries renewed. Here’s a look at what to expect.
No comeback this time.
The New York Knicks, one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years, were unable to recover from a double-digit deficit in Game 5 against the Boston Celtics as they did in their first three victories of their second-round series. The Celtics, playing without star Jayson Tatum, pulled away in the third quarter and this time protected their lead en route to a 127-102 win to avoid elimination.
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The series returns to Madison Square Garden for Game 6 on Friday. The Knicks will now look to close the series on their home court and advance to face the Indiana Pacers, while the Celtics hope to steal a road win and force Game 7 in Boston.
Teams leading 3-1 in the NBA playoffs have won 95.6% of the time, with only 13 teams in 293 tries coming back to win three straight games.
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The Celtics would have to stage that rare comeback without their best player in Tatum, who suffered a ruptured Achilles at the end of Game 4. His teammates stepped up in his absence Wednesday, with Derrick White scoring 34 points and Jaylen Brown adding 26 points and a postseason career-high 12 assists.
The two set the tone in the first half, erasing a nine-point Knicks lead while combining for 36 points on 8-for-12 shooting from deep.
Tied at 59-59 at the break, the Celtics went on a 16-3 run in the third quarter capped by a Sam Hauser 3-pointer that opened an 84-70 lead with 5:10 remaining.
Jalen Brunson collected his fifth foul with 2:45 left in the third, forcing him to sit for the remainder of the quarter as the Celtics took a 91-76 advantage into the fourth.
The lead grew to 20 points early in the fourth after Al Horford converted a 3 and then a putback, and went on to reach as many as 27.
The Knicks, who erased third-quarter deficits of 20 points in Game 1 and Game 2 and 14 points in Game 4, were unable to chip away. Brunson, who reentered at the start of the fourth, fouled out with 7:19 left, finishing with 22 points and six assists in 33 minutes.
Josh Hart led the Knicks with 24 points and seven rebounds. Karl-Anthony Towns added 19 points and eight rebounds. Mitchell Robinson had eight points and 13 rebounds off the bench, amazingly going 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
Kristaps Porzingis did not play in the second half for the Celtics, contributing just one point on 0-for-3 shooting in 12 minutes. Luke Kornet came off the bench and finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and a career-high seven blocks. Payton Pritchard added 17 points, Jrue Holiday had 14 and Horford finished with 12 for Boston, which shot 22-for-49 from deep to help extend their season.
The Knicks will now have a chance to close out a series on their home court for the first time since 2000, their last appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals.
