by Stop Mike Lupica on October 18 at 10:51AM
The Knicks got pasted yesterday by the new-look Celtics. Not a lot of positives to take from the game. The game was not televised, so I'm relying on the breakdown from ESPN's play by play log, and the box score.
It's worth noting that the Celtics were up 50-35 at the half, and shooting 61% from the field. Obviously the Knicks defense must have been atrocious, though clearly the offense was even worse. The Knicks did use 17 players in the game. Not one was Jerome James, who is still out with some sort of "sore left leg". With Balkman out with an ankle injury, it's safe to say that James is the 19th man on the roster right now. Please cut him.
In case you are wondering how to get to 15 from 19 players on the Knicks' roster right now: Walker Russell Jr is certainly not making the team. That leaves Demetris Nichols, Allan Houston, Jared Jordan, and Jerome James for the last two spots. Unfortunately, it'll probably be in that order (meaning James and one of the others stay), unless Isiah changes his mind about Fred Jones - unlikely, since he's one of the few Knicks that played tough defense yesterday - or unless he makes a small move (i.e. trading Randolph Morris for a future pick or something).
I wanted to delve a bit into the first 10 minutes of the game, and examine the horrible defense by Jamal Crawford and, surprisingly, Quentin Richardson. Also, while we are at it, Zach Randolph. They were matched up against Boston's Big 3: Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett:
Paul Pierce on Q-Rich:
-Absolutely murders him.
-Opens up with an assist to Perkins for a dunk, then hits a 16-footer at 10:51.
-Draws a foul on Q-Rich at 9:29, and makes one of two FTAs. He's now contributed to all 5 Celtic points. It's 5-5.
-Grabs a defensive rebound at 8:15, brings it up, and makes a 7-foot runner at 8:07.
-Grabs another defensive rebound at 7:45, and makes a driving layup at 7:39. It's now 11-6 Boston. Pierce has 7 points, an assist, and two rebounds that lead to quick transition scores for himself.
-After a timeout, he steals the ball on a bad pass from Zach Randolph (7:20).
-5 seconds later, he gets an assist when Eddie House hits a 19-footer. 13-6 Boston.
-After an Eddy Curry hook shot, Paul Pierce gets another freaking assist on a KG 20-foot jumper. 15-8 Boston.
Q-Rich, meanwhile, has missed a 24-footer (8:41 mark) offensively.
-At the 6:11 mark Q-Rich grabs an offensive board for his first rebound; he then makes a 25-foot three off a Crawford assist to cut it to 15-11.
-James Posey enters the game. This means it's Jamal Crawford's turn to get burnt.
Ray Allen on Jamal Crawford:
With the score just 15-11, to this point it's been a good matchup for the Knicks, more or less. The numbers so far:
-Crawford has missed a 24-footer, a 15-footer, assisted on Eddy Curry's hook and Q-Rich's 25-footer. Ray Allen has done nothing.
-At the 5:37 mark Allen gets in the box score with a driving layup (Perkins with an assist) to make it 17-11 Boston.
-At the 3:50 mark Allen hits a 12-footer.
-Allen misses a 25-footer at the 3:13 mark.
And Fred Jones enters the game at 2:48 for Crawford. Ray Allen will go on to hit a layup and get fouled by Fred Jones for a three-point play, but it seems that he was kept in check mostly by the Knicks. Ray Allen will contribute a three-pointer in the 2nd quarter on Crawford, and that's pretty much it. A quiet 10 points, but still 10 points.
Kevin Garnett vs. Zach Randolph:
-This one is also kind of ugly for the Knicks.
-Garnett missed a jumper to start the game.
-On the next possession he gets called for traveling.
-At 9:04 he assists to Rondo for a layup. Looking at the highlights on Sportscenter, Garnett's assists were very pretty tonight. He only had 3 assists in total, but two of them were good enough to make the highlight reels.
-Zach Randolph to this point as a defensive rebound and a turnover (bad pass stolen by Rondo).
-At 6:37 KG makes the 20-footer that Pierce assisted on, the one that makes it 15-8. One minute prior to this, Randolph had another bad pass, this one stolen by Pierce. That's two turnovers for Z-Bo.
-Randolph gets called for a charge against Garnett at 5:46.
-On the next Knick possession, Randolph gets called for a 3-second violation. Um, that's three turnovers and a charge so far.
-KG hits a 18-footer off a James Posey assist.
-At 4:35 Zach misses a 26-foot three pointer, one I can only assume was the result of a last-second chuck to avoid the 24-second clock violation. We'll give him a pass for that.
-KG of course grabs the rebound, as Randolph is off in three-point land for whatever reason.
-KG grabs one more rebound before David Lee checks in for Zach Randolph at the 2:48 mark.
Eddy Curry:
Eddy Curry in general had a decent first quarter:
-Hits a 13-foot hook shot to open the game.
-Missed a 4-footer, but we'll forgive because over the course of the season more than 65% of those will go down.
-Drew a shooting foul on Rondo, made one of two free throws.
-Made a 6-foot hook shot off Jamal Crawford's assist.
-Missed a 7-footer.
After Z-Bo checks out:
-Curry grabs an offensive rebound at 2:28 mark.
-Misses a 5-footer at 1:15 mark. As is often the case when Curry misses from up close, David Lee grabs the offensive board and slams it back for two easy points.
-Draws a shooting foul on Leon Powe. Hits one of two free throws.
In the second quarter, the Knicks do well with the Big 3 on the bench to start. They go on a 5-0 run to start the quarter (Zach Randolph with an 11-footer, Nate Robinson with two free throws hit after a James Posey foul, Z-Bo with a foul on Leon Powe hits one of two FTAs).
Then Paul Pierce re-enters the game. He doesn't have an effect immediately - the Celtics break the run on a Posey layup off a Brian Scalabrine assist), and the Knicks just miss a few opportunities to get closer - Randolph misses a 17-footer, Robinson misses a 9-footer (after stealing the ball from Pierce - Little Nate's defense has been stellar all preseason). Pierce then drops a three-point bomb. Zach misses a 6-footer at 9:03 mark, and well... eventually the starters come into the game for both teams, and Pierce gets a few fouls, Allen gets a three, Scalabrine gets a three, KG gets a dunk, and Rondo hits a free throw.
What really stands out is not that Boston tore up the Knicks in the second quarter - they only scored 20 points - but how pitiful the Knick offense was. After only managing 18 points in the first quarter, they were held to 17 in the second.
After that 5-0 run to start, here's how it went down:
first half. Randolph did do well on the boards, grabbing 12 rebounds. Curry was in foul trouble, and fouled out after only 15 minutes.
The bench didn't have the usual spark tonight. Lee was okay, grabbing 8 boards in 17 minutes, but also had two fouls and two turnovers. Collins and Robinson were a combine 0-8, not good numbers for your backup guards. Allan Houston played six minutes, looked awful on defense according to the AP, and missed his only shot.
Wilson Chandler continues to impress, looking like another Balkman: Though he was only 2-8 from the field (still needs a little polishing there), he had 7 rebounds and 3 blocks in 15 minutes.
Nichols, trying hard to make the team, went 2-5 in 11 minutes, but helped his case with 2 boards and a steal. Jared Jordan played 10 minutes, and went 0-2 (thus the Knicks' backup points combined for an 0-10 night), but had 4 assists.
As for the Celtics: Well, Allen was efficient - 6-8, 14 points, with 2 rebs and an assist. KG was okay - 6-15, 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks. Pierce was the monster: 22 points on 7-8 FG, including 3-4 from downtown; 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and a steal.
Rondo had 5 points, 4 assists, 2 steals and 4 turnovers. He looks shaky.
Even worse, the best player for the Celts off the bench was Gabe Pruitt. I'm not sure I'm ready to hand them the Eastern Conference title just yet. Take yesterday's beating of the Knicks to be more indicative of what the Knicks can look like if they are not on... in other words, let's hope yesterday was just a bad night, and not a harbinger of the season....
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It's worth noting that the Celtics were up 50-35 at the half, and shooting 61% from the field. Obviously the Knicks defense must have been atrocious, though clearly the offense was even worse. The Knicks did use 17 players in the game. Not one was Jerome James, who is still out with some sort of "sore left leg". With Balkman out with an ankle injury, it's safe to say that James is the 19th man on the roster right now. Please cut him.
In case you are wondering how to get to 15 from 19 players on the Knicks' roster right now: Walker Russell Jr is certainly not making the team. That leaves Demetris Nichols, Allan Houston, Jared Jordan, and Jerome James for the last two spots. Unfortunately, it'll probably be in that order (meaning James and one of the others stay), unless Isiah changes his mind about Fred Jones - unlikely, since he's one of the few Knicks that played tough defense yesterday - or unless he makes a small move (i.e. trading Randolph Morris for a future pick or something).
I wanted to delve a bit into the first 10 minutes of the game, and examine the horrible defense by Jamal Crawford and, surprisingly, Quentin Richardson. Also, while we are at it, Zach Randolph. They were matched up against Boston's Big 3: Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett:
Paul Pierce on Q-Rich:
-Absolutely murders him.
-Opens up with an assist to Perkins for a dunk, then hits a 16-footer at 10:51.
-Draws a foul on Q-Rich at 9:29, and makes one of two FTAs. He's now contributed to all 5 Celtic points. It's 5-5.
-Grabs a defensive rebound at 8:15, brings it up, and makes a 7-foot runner at 8:07.
-Grabs another defensive rebound at 7:45, and makes a driving layup at 7:39. It's now 11-6 Boston. Pierce has 7 points, an assist, and two rebounds that lead to quick transition scores for himself.
-After a timeout, he steals the ball on a bad pass from Zach Randolph (7:20).
-5 seconds later, he gets an assist when Eddie House hits a 19-footer. 13-6 Boston.
-After an Eddy Curry hook shot, Paul Pierce gets another freaking assist on a KG 20-foot jumper. 15-8 Boston.
Q-Rich, meanwhile, has missed a 24-footer (8:41 mark) offensively.
-At the 6:11 mark Q-Rich grabs an offensive board for his first rebound; he then makes a 25-foot three off a Crawford assist to cut it to 15-11.
-James Posey enters the game. This means it's Jamal Crawford's turn to get burnt.
Ray Allen on Jamal Crawford:
With the score just 15-11, to this point it's been a good matchup for the Knicks, more or less. The numbers so far:
-Crawford has missed a 24-footer, a 15-footer, assisted on Eddy Curry's hook and Q-Rich's 25-footer. Ray Allen has done nothing.
-At the 5:37 mark Allen gets in the box score with a driving layup (Perkins with an assist) to make it 17-11 Boston.
-At the 3:50 mark Allen hits a 12-footer.
-Allen misses a 25-footer at the 3:13 mark.
And Fred Jones enters the game at 2:48 for Crawford. Ray Allen will go on to hit a layup and get fouled by Fred Jones for a three-point play, but it seems that he was kept in check mostly by the Knicks. Ray Allen will contribute a three-pointer in the 2nd quarter on Crawford, and that's pretty much it. A quiet 10 points, but still 10 points.
Kevin Garnett vs. Zach Randolph:
-This one is also kind of ugly for the Knicks.
-Garnett missed a jumper to start the game.
-On the next possession he gets called for traveling.
-At 9:04 he assists to Rondo for a layup. Looking at the highlights on Sportscenter, Garnett's assists were very pretty tonight. He only had 3 assists in total, but two of them were good enough to make the highlight reels.
-Zach Randolph to this point as a defensive rebound and a turnover (bad pass stolen by Rondo).
-At 6:37 KG makes the 20-footer that Pierce assisted on, the one that makes it 15-8. One minute prior to this, Randolph had another bad pass, this one stolen by Pierce. That's two turnovers for Z-Bo.
-Randolph gets called for a charge against Garnett at 5:46.
-On the next Knick possession, Randolph gets called for a 3-second violation. Um, that's three turnovers and a charge so far.
-KG hits a 18-footer off a James Posey assist.
-At 4:35 Zach misses a 26-foot three pointer, one I can only assume was the result of a last-second chuck to avoid the 24-second clock violation. We'll give him a pass for that.
-KG of course grabs the rebound, as Randolph is off in three-point land for whatever reason.
-KG grabs one more rebound before David Lee checks in for Zach Randolph at the 2:48 mark.
Eddy Curry:
Eddy Curry in general had a decent first quarter:
-Hits a 13-foot hook shot to open the game.
-Missed a 4-footer, but we'll forgive because over the course of the season more than 65% of those will go down.
-Drew a shooting foul on Rondo, made one of two free throws.
-Made a 6-foot hook shot off Jamal Crawford's assist.
-Missed a 7-footer.
After Z-Bo checks out:
-Curry grabs an offensive rebound at 2:28 mark.
-Misses a 5-footer at 1:15 mark. As is often the case when Curry misses from up close, David Lee grabs the offensive board and slams it back for two easy points.
-Draws a shooting foul on Leon Powe. Hits one of two free throws.
In the second quarter, the Knicks do well with the Big 3 on the bench to start. They go on a 5-0 run to start the quarter (Zach Randolph with an 11-footer, Nate Robinson with two free throws hit after a James Posey foul, Z-Bo with a foul on Leon Powe hits one of two FTAs).
Then Paul Pierce re-enters the game. He doesn't have an effect immediately - the Celtics break the run on a Posey layup off a Brian Scalabrine assist), and the Knicks just miss a few opportunities to get closer - Randolph misses a 17-footer, Robinson misses a 9-footer (after stealing the ball from Pierce - Little Nate's defense has been stellar all preseason). Pierce then drops a three-point bomb. Zach misses a 6-footer at 9:03 mark, and well... eventually the starters come into the game for both teams, and Pierce gets a few fouls, Allen gets a three, Scalabrine gets a three, KG gets a dunk, and Rondo hits a free throw.
What really stands out is not that Boston tore up the Knicks in the second quarter - they only scored 20 points - but how pitiful the Knick offense was. After only managing 18 points in the first quarter, they were held to 17 in the second.
After that 5-0 run to start, here's how it went down:
-David Lee bad pass stolen
-Fred Jones hits a layup (Crawford with another assist)
-Lee misses a jumper, then
loses the ball to Perkins
-Marbury misses a
14-footer
-Randolph makes two FTs after drawing
a Perkins foul
-Mardy Collins misses a layup
-Crawford misses a three
-Randolph with another turnover (Perkins steal)
-KG blocks Crawford's jumper
-Q-Rich misses a 21-footer
-
-Malik Freaking Rose hits a 21-footer
-Crawford misses a 16-footer
-Pierce
blocks Randolph's layup
-A shot clock violation
-Crawford hits two FTAs after drawing a Pierce foul
-Crawford misses a 14-footer
-Marbury with a layup
-Randolph
with a layup off a Marbury assist
-Crawford
travels
-Scalabrine blocks Marbury's layup
-Pierce blocks Malik Rose's 25-footer at the buzzer
first half. Randolph did do well on the boards, grabbing 12 rebounds. Curry was in foul trouble, and fouled out after only 15 minutes.
The bench didn't have the usual spark tonight. Lee was okay, grabbing 8 boards in 17 minutes, but also had two fouls and two turnovers. Collins and Robinson were a combine 0-8, not good numbers for your backup guards. Allan Houston played six minutes, looked awful on defense according to the AP, and missed his only shot.
Wilson Chandler continues to impress, looking like another Balkman: Though he was only 2-8 from the field (still needs a little polishing there), he had 7 rebounds and 3 blocks in 15 minutes.
Nichols, trying hard to make the team, went 2-5 in 11 minutes, but helped his case with 2 boards and a steal. Jared Jordan played 10 minutes, and went 0-2 (thus the Knicks' backup points combined for an 0-10 night), but had 4 assists.
As for the Celtics: Well, Allen was efficient - 6-8, 14 points, with 2 rebs and an assist. KG was okay - 6-15, 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks. Pierce was the monster: 22 points on 7-8 FG, including 3-4 from downtown; 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and a steal.
Rondo had 5 points, 4 assists, 2 steals and 4 turnovers. He looks shaky.
Even worse, the best player for the Celts off the bench was Gabe Pruitt. I'm not sure I'm ready to hand them the Eastern Conference title just yet. Take yesterday's beating of the Knicks to be more indicative of what the Knicks can look like if they are not on... in other words, let's hope yesterday was just a bad night, and not a harbinger of the season....
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