Celtics 101, Knicks 99: Scenes from the Sisyphus Knicks letting that dang boulder roll down the hill again

I’m so sick of watching these guys. This is the best Knicks team in nearly a decade, and I’m just sick of watching them. They are hopeless in the final minutes of close games, and all they play are close games these days.

For the fifth time in the last six games, the Knicks had a chance to win a close game and screwed it up. This time they repeatedly ignored Marcus Smart, who buried a couple of three-pointers, including the go-ahead one in the final minute.

The game was rough in the first half, as Elfrid Payton played poorly even by his standards. Fortunately, Thibs replaced him for the final minutes of the second quarter and RJ Barrett caught fire to close the deficit to just one.

Elf got his two minutes of glory early in the third quarter, hitting Nerlens Noel for a lob and hit two — count ‘em, TWO — consecutive baskets. Suddenly the Knicks were up seven. The lead lasted precisely three possessions, as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown suddenly came alive. Surprise, surprise, the Elf Renaissance did not last beyond that point.

The fourth quarter started off much the same way, with the Knicks building another seven-point lead only to see Brown and Tatum take it back immediately. Marcus Smart started to impose his will on the game, The game looked over when RJ Barrett turned the ball over trying to iso on Brown, but he came back the very next time down the court and buried the game-tying three.

But so what? Alec Burks did the same thing last game. I’m sick of posting shit about game-tying shots, because we all know what is going to happen next. Sure enough, Reggie Bullock left Smart alone for some reason and he canned the dagger.

Ew. Recap to come.