The apocalypse is now upon us in the Eastern Conference.

Now on the rise, the Boston Celtics have begun cracking down on contenders and contenders. The New York Knicks, perhaps the only team in the East with the talent to do something about it, were embarrassed by Boston on opening night. Is there hope?

In their active offseason, when the Knicks acquired both Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, they laid the groundwork for a revolt against the Celtics. Their battle cries rang out: “Greatness! Shoot! Defensive switchability!” When they tried to drag the rest of the conference into the future, the Celtics had already found it. But things aren’t looking good for the movement.

It will take some time for these pieces to come together. Last season, the Knicks were a pretty talented team that boasted chemistry and coherence. Cities and bridges need to get on board with the program before they can turn this ice cream stand into a revolution.

But it will be a tough road, because Tuesday night showed them that the Celtics are not some kind of political dictator, just a math teacher, and gave the Knicks this open-ended question as homework:

“How do you beat a team that makes 29 of 61 three-pointers in a game?”

Answer: You don’t. It’s impossible. The Knicks had no chance. They shot an outstanding 55 percent from the field and yet were blown out of the game even worse than the box score reflected – the Celtics spent the final six minutes of the game missing 13 straight three-pointers to break the single-game record . The Knicks was an Enlightenment philosopher who explained gravity using metaphysics and friendship. The Celtics were Isaac Newton throwing down the gauntlet of calculus and straight facts.

If this is the zombie apocalypse, it wasn’t sent by God. It was sent by Joe Mazzulla after he synthesized the virus by inventing a new mathematics called “Togrosofography” and discovered four new elements. But it’s still science, not magic. How can the Knicks combat this?

The answer is not “time,” although that will certainly help. But there’s a difference between taking time for a team to come together and actually having the right schematic answers. Can do that Ideal Which version of this team takes care of these Celtics? And can it handle it? Ideal Celtics as soon as Kristaps Porzingis returns?

First and foremost, they need to give themselves a chance by shooting a lot of threes. The 30 they shot on Tuesday won’t be enough, against the Celtics or against anyone. Last season, one of the defining points between high-performing teams was the percentage of points scored from beyond the arc. The Celtics are the best at it, but there’s no reason the Knicks can’t be in the top 10 or even top 5. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns are great shooters, and Josh Hart and OG Anunoby have made careers out of corners. Mikal Bridges isn’t as bad as his shooting form looks.

Another topic that needs to be monitored in the scoring department is free throws. Brunson benefits from charity work, as Towns has throughout his career, but managed just four free throws combined Tuesday. It’s no longer a given that NBA referees will put up with the James Harden-esque swipe-through as often as they did in the past, and the Celtics are one of the few teams with the physical profile to allow elite creators like Brunson defend and cities without pollution. Luckily, being a referee is (ideally) a double-edged sword, and Jayson Tatum isn’t nearly as effective when he can’t get to the finish line about eight times per game. Unless you’re on the Harden-Embiid 76ers, free throws won’t win or defeat the Knicks.

How about defense? Can the Knicks actually prevent Boston from scoring with the apocalyptic volume they are capable of? Probably not, but they can definitely try harder than most teams. The Knicks are an incredibly fierce group, made up almost entirely of people who would jump into a burning building to grab a loose ball. They also have insane length in Anunoby and Bridges, making them uniquely equipped to chase Boston’s shooters off the line. Focusing on shooters when they don’t have the ball is worth giving up a lot of space in the middle, as a well-timed cut and perfect pass are much more difficult to execute than a catch-and-shoot three-pointer. The Knicks will have to play recklessly, but that will in turn force Boston to play a different type of game.

It’s not that the Celtics only shoot threes; They destroyed Towns on switches and took advantage of his lack of elite foot speed when defending the pick-and-roll. They won’t be able to hide him, but the Knicks will have to live with that

New York could also just let them shoot and “hope they miss,” which has worked for teams in the past but is not statistically likely to work over time. The Mavericks played Tatum as a three-man in the finale, challenging guys like Derrick White and Sam Hauser to hit shots, which they did. The Knicks need to trust their wing defenders to rely on the Celtics’ stars and deny the ball to the shooters they want to give a chance.

It’s easy to see this as a hopeless situation, but that’s not the case. With both teams at full strength — and Boston still a much better health bet than New York — the Celtics will always have the upper hand. But the Knicks have a schematic path to victory that other teams don’t: Shoot more threes, get to the line and deny shooters air space on the catch. They have the physical profile to be successful, even if last night it seemed like the end was near and nothing could stop it.

Listen, I get that this plan is solid but flimsy as hell, and like any group of aspiring revolutionaries, they’ll still be the underdogs even after they’ve earned a chance. They’ll need a lot of luck to succeed when the freight train of history seems ready to run over them. But they have a path to success that 13 other teams would give anything for. Will they? Probably not. Can you? Absolutely.