NEW YORK — What has made this Celtics season so fascinating is that, roughly a week before the playoffs begins, this club remains far from a finished product.
Such is the situation when coach Joe Mazzulla is trying to quickly integrate Nikola Vucevic into the Celtics arsenal, while Jayson Tatum continues to strive to reach his previous form before the games really count.
The Celtics faced the rival Knicks on Thursday at Madison Square Garden different from the team that’s likely to face the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Jaylen Brown took the night off to rest his sore Achilles, meaning the pressure was on Tatum — making his return to MSG for the first time since his traumatic injury 11 months ago — to be the focal point of the offense.
