Game 4 Preview: Knicks vs. Celtics — Madison Square Garden Braces for Basketball, Drama, and Maybe a Fire Drill

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, irrationally overconfident Knicks fans and Celtics diehards who still think Larry Bird is suiting up — welcome to Game 4 of what might be the most dramatic playoff series since someone slapped Ben Simmons with a shooting sleeve and said, “Go get ’em, tiger.”

We’re heading back to Madison Square Garden, where the ghost of Reggie Miller’s trash talk still echoes off the rafters, and where Knicks fans haven’t slept since Game 2. No one’s entirely sure what’s happening, but it involves Julius Randle’s comeback arc, a potentially sentient Jayson Tatum, and several hundred dollars’ worth of soft pretzels per quarter.

Let’s set the scene:

The Celtics

Boston rolls into the Garden looking like a team built in a lab, assuming that lab also serves Dunkin’ and exclusively plays 2008 highlight reels. Jayson Tatum has been balling like a man possessed — possibly by the spirit of Paul Pierce if Paul Pierce were slightly more mobile and less likely to say wild things on live TV.

Jaylen Brown has been dunking with such fury it looks like he’s mad someone called his book “a coloring project,” and Kristaps Porziņģis has been providing just enough rim protection to remind Knicks fans of the time they traded him for two paper clips and a used copy of NBA Live 2006.

Al Horford? Still here. Somehow. NBA scientists still don’t understand how he moves like molasses and still ends up with a +17 every game.

The Knicks

Oh, the Knicks. New York’s finest have entered full “rocky montage” mode. Every possession is a war, every foul is met with twelve arms in the air and one guy in a Patrick Ewing jersey screaming “LET ‘EM PLAY!”

Jalen Brunson has been hooping like someone promised him free rent for life in Manhattan. Josh Hart is playing 47 minutes per game on what appears to be Red Bull and spite. Isaiah Hartenstein has more offensive rebounds than the Celtics have fans named “Chad.”

And Tom Thibodeau? He’s over there on the sideline like a dad coaching his son’s AAU team, yelling “ICE! ICE! ICE!” at the pick-and-roll until someone finally builds a snowman.

The Stakes

Boston leads the series 2-1, but Knicks fans are treating Game 4 like it’s Game 7, the NBA Finals, and the final round of The Voice all at once. There are rumors that Spike Lee has already started talking trash to players not even in the game yet. Someone caught him outside MSG yelling at Tacko Fall’s hologram.

The Celtics want to take control. The Knicks want revenge. The refs just want one quarter without 600 people yelling at them.

Predictions?

Impossible. This is Knicks-Celtics. This is basketball meets Broadway meets several guys in Larry Bird jerseys crying outside a Shake Shack. This is history. This is chaos. This is Game 4.

And one thing’s for sure: by the end of the night, someone will be yelling “WE WANT BOSTON” or “TRADE EVERYONE” — possibly both, from the same person, depending on the quarter.

Buckle up. Bring snacks. Maybe a helmet.