There will still be 80 games left to play this season after the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics face off Friday in Beantown. Game 2 of the regular season is rarely portentous, but with a brutal stretch on the horizon there are all sorts of questions around the Knicks after their opening-night loss to Philadelphia. Here are three worth thinking about.
1. How will the differing center approaches influence this game?
The cities of New York and Boston could hardly be more different. Ditto the histories of their NBA teams: the latter have won more titles than anyone, the former fewer than the Miami Heat, who are 40 years younger.
Another point of distinction: their views on the center spot. The Celtics are paying Mitchell Robinson and Neemias Queta $18 million this season. The Knicks are paying Karl-Anthony Towns that much by Christmas. One of these things is very much not like the other.
Ironically, both teams arrived at these divergent points from the same origin story: the dreaded second apron. Only two years ago, the Celtics spent $30 million on Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford. But new owners took over the team, apparently unaware that owning the Boston freaking Celtics is a bit of an expense, particularly coming off a title. That’s how they ended up going from these as their top-five salaries in 2025 . . .
- Jaylen Brown $49 million
- Jayston Tatum $34 million
- Jrue Holiday $30 million
- KP $29 million
- Derrick White $20 million
. . . to these in 2027.
- Tatum $58 million
- Paul George $54 million
- White $30 million
- Mitch $15 million
- Sam Hauser $10 million
The totals are similar—$162 million then, $167 million now—but like the rest of society, disproportionate wealth has been funneled up to the top. The two best-paid Celtics have gone from making $83 million two years ago to $112 million this season, the fourth- and fifth-best from $49 million to half that amount.
Speaking of irony, the Knicks stability at the ownership level has translated into a model of financial continuity. These were the top-five paid Knicks in 2025:
- Karl-Anthony Towns $49 million
- OG Anunoby $36 million
- Jalen Brunson $24 million
- Mikal Bridges $23 million
- Josh Hart $18 million
In 2027:
- KAT $57 million
- OG $42 million
- Brunson $37 million
- Bridges $33 million
- Hart $20 million
Both teams won a title recently. Upon doing so, both encountered the second apron. The Celtics have since cut their spending on rotation bigs by over 50%, while the Knicks are spending virtually the same amount but moved more of it to Towns and less to his back-up. One side is betting they can get more elsewhere by investing less at the five-spot, the other betting on bigger talent.
How that works this season is still up in the air. Last year, Boston couldn't deal with Joel Embiid, while the Knicks swept Embiid's Sixers and had a gentlemen's sweep of Victor Wembanyama's Spurs in the Finals. Hopefully that's a hint.
It’s too early to say if one approach is better than the other, but the fact that James Wiseman and Luke Garza remain relevant proves what was true when these teams first met in 1946 remains so today: you can never have enough bigs.
2. Can the Knicks knock another item off their bucket list?
When the 1994 New York Rangers broke a 54-year title-less run by defeating Vancouver in Game 7, a fan in Madison Square Garden held a sign that became an instant classic: “Now I Can Die In Peace.”
When the Knicks broke their 53-year run without a championship last spring, a lot of fans felt the same way. But the Knicks didn’t fold up shop after the Finals. They’re back, hoping to repeat. That’d be a lot easier if New York wins the division.
Easier said than done.
Boston has topped the Atlantic the past five years. The Knicks haven’t finished ahead of them in the East since Tom Thiobdeau’s first year at the helm, and haven’t won the division since they were led by a different Mike (Woodson). Counting Friday, they have seven games left with the Celtics and 76ers. If they’re 0-2 against those teams after Friday, they’d have to sweep them both the rest of the season to win the tiebreakers.
Since Jalen Brunson’s arrival, the Knicks have finished fifth, second, third and third in the East. Losing the division this year could mean losing homecourt advantage in the opening round entirely. Losing the division could mean opening the playoffs against Philadelphia or Indiana or Toronto instead of Orlando, Atlanta or Miami. New York might beat any and all of those teams in the first round, but at such cost that it kills their chances of winning beyond then.
For so many years, the focus of Knicks fans has been on the big picture, the final destination, the one true ring. Repeating is a whole other ballgame, one that’s easier to win in the end the more you win in the beginning. No better time to start than Friday in Boston.
3. What's in store for Mitchell Robinson as he faces Knicks for first time?
The Joe Mazzulla's feelings toward Mitch appear to have run the gamut from a distance. While he seemed as big an advocate as any coach of using the Hack-A-Mitch strategy, forcing Robinson to the foul line and (Mazzulla hoped) eventually to the bench, Boston’s boss also praised Mitch effusively for his work winning the possession battle for his side. Now that the big is on the other foot, what might Knick fans expect to see?
Will Robinson tangle with Towns, whom he spent two years going up against in practice? Will Mazzulla instead try Paul George on Towns, an effective approach in limited doses from Nick Nurse last spring, freeing Mitch to “cover” Hart, meaning freeing him to rove around helping wherever the defense is tested?
Hart is used to bigger defenders ignoring him and attacking closeouts, taking them to the rim. Robinson is eight inches taller than Hart and jumps twice as high. The usual approach might not work in this instance.
The Knicks place a high value on their continuity. Surely, then, Robinson will be able to make adjustments on the floor and advise his new team in the huddle of things his old team is doing. Similarly, the Knicks know Mitch better than anyone. When he was here, the attitude around Hack-A-Mitch was usually: “Go on. Try him.” Will New York see if the shoe fits, now that it’s on their foot?
There are 80 games remaining after the Boston game Friday. We’ll have a better sense what to make of those 80 come Saturday morning.
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