Kendrick Perkins Criticizes Celtics After Game 1 Collapse Vs. Knicks

Kendrick Perkins seems to believe the Celtics lost Monday night’s game at TD Garden more than the Knicks won it.

New York deserves credit for the resiliency it displayed in Game 1 against Boston. However, blowing a 20-point lead in a playoff game is unacceptable for any team, let alone the reigning NBA champions. The C’s let the visitors steal one due to poor decision-making and execution, most notably from beyond the arc.

The historic 3-point struggles were the focus of Perkins’ postgame criticism of his former team.

“As champions, you should know better,” Perkins told Scott Van Pelt on ESPN’s “SportsCenter. “If it’s not working, that doesn’t mean continue to take threes. We saw this last year in the Finals. They didn’t make 3-point shots at a high clip, but they got to the paint. Tonight, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined 10-for-41 from the 3-point line. At what point do you think about putting your head down and getting to the basket? I mean, damn. The Knicks were great defensively, but Jayson Tatum is too elite of a scorer to settle the way that he was settling.”

While Tatum thought the Celtics saw a lot of “good looks” Monday, he acknowledged they probably should have attacked the rim more when shots weren’t falling. Brown agreed that the C’s “forced the issue” at times, which allowed the Knicks to stage their comeback and ultimately swipe homecourt advantage.

But Boston can’t afford to dwell on those shortcomings. It needs to focus on crafting and executing a successful game plan for Wednesday night’s Game 2.