Knicks Playoff GAME DAY: 3:30 PM – 2025 NBA Playoffs Round 2, Game 3 – NYK (2-0) vs. BOS (0-2); ABC

Madison Square Garden. The World’s Most Famous Arena. The Mecca of Basketball. Home of the biggest Knicks playoff game in decades.

That’s right, decades. At 3:30 PM, the New York Knicks will look to defend their 2-0 series lead and New York City as they host the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Today’s ticket prices are exorbitantly high. Ticketmaster reads $864 for “Standing Room Only.” So, Knicks fans expect their team to play well. The Knicks are 1-2 at home this postseason, and if they want to win today, they must block out the noise, from Celebrity Row to the Chase Bridge. If they could do it in Boston, they can do it in New York City.

Also, all the pressure in Game 3 is on Boston, not the Knicks. It’s the defending champion Celtics who are down 2-0. But the Celtics were the NBA’s best road team this season, so they know what it takes to win away from TD Garden. The only question is, will they finally make the adjustments needed to beat the Knicks?

The Knicks must prepare for a Celtics team that will play with a chip on its shoulder. Don’t expect the Celtics players to continue to simply shoot threes. They are talented enough to make the adjustments necessary to combat the Knicks, who need to be prepared to defend against any Beantown ruckus that invades their Garden.

Last year, Karl-Anthony Towns played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who initially led the defending champion Denver Nuggets 2-0 in the second round of the playoffs before getting wiped out twice in Minnesota. “I know maybe better than anyone that we haven’t done anything yet,” said Towns. “We can’t take anything for granted.” He added, “We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to shoot better. We’ve got to execute better.”

Don’t forget how the Knicks led the Indiana Pacers 2-0 last year before the series took a seismic shift. That’s why Jalen Brunson’s “mentality is 0-0” (Brunson). “[We’re] going to focus on the next play, the next quarter. Don’t look ahead. Don’t look to anything. Focus on the task and hand and be present.” The Knicks have been in this position before, and since injuries cost them last season, there is no excuse this time around.

Meanwhile, the Celtics aren’t used to being down 2-0 in a series and having the pressure on their shoulders. They were frontrunners throughout last year’s playoffs. And while the Knicks haven’t been playing their best basketball yet in this series, scoring their fewest points of the season in Game 2, neither have the Celtics. And that’s a scary thought the Knicks must fend off.

“The big thing is to understand what it’s going to take to win Game 3, to not get lost,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. “If you’re up, that doesn’t guarantee anything. What we have to understand is what we have to do to win Game 3.” He added, “We haven’t earned the right to capture the moment.”

The Knicks stole two games from the Celtics in Boston. Now, they must prove they deserve to win this series.