by Stop Mike Lupica on October 23 at 1:32AM
I figured after last week's 40-point beating by the Celtics, the Knicks would come out tonight and look to prove they can hang with the Celtics. I didn't expect the Celtics to accept the challenge, and try to establish that they are the big dogs in the leagues. The Celtics' Big 3 played 35+ minutes each, and tonight's game was one of the best preseason games you'll ever see. Here are the highlights:
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1st Quarter:
-The Celtics open up the game with a 7-0 run, including a play in which Ray Allen blows by Jamal Crawford in slow motion. Jamal needs to go to Nate Robinson's camp.
-Quentin Richardson ends the run by hitting a three for the Knicks, off a nice swing pass from Eddy Curry to Crawford to Q-Rich.
-Stephon Marbury with back to back drives into the paint for a layup. It's 7-7.
-Ray Allen gets an offensive rebound when Jamal Crawford forgets to box him out. Sloppy.
-Ray Allen hits a three pointer, making it 12-7 Celtics. He has 7 points already.
-Steph with more penetration into the paint. He's a human, um... drill. It's 12-9.
-Randolph with "great hands around the rim". 12-11 Boston.
-Eddy Curry shoves Scalabrine! Get off me, b*tch! I like mean Curry. Curry don't take no mess!
-Now he gives a hard foul to Garnett. 14-13 Boston.
-Richardson with his 2nd block on Paul Pierce. Return to sender!
-Reach-in foul on Curry. That's his second foul. Sub time. It's only the 5:30 mark in the 1st. Here comes fan favorite David Lee, to nice applause. Curry needs to get into midseason shape. He's been in foul trouble all preaseason, mostly because of these lazy fouls.
-Pierce with a jumper. 16-13 Boston.
-Crawford to Randolph to Crawford, for three! 16-16.
-Garnett, Marbury exchange jumpers. 18-18.
-Marbury is getting upcourt quickly. He's got fresh legs.
-Steph misses a layup, but Lee gets fouled on the rebound.
-Randolph misses, Lee with a rebound and putback. 20-18.
-Marbury again penetrates into the paint. Okay, let's get this joke out of the way early: The Celtics must look like an MSG intern to him to him tonight. 22-20 Knicks.
-Zach Randolph looks alot like Sean Kingston.
-Randolph with a jumper in the post. "You're too beautiful jumper, that's while it'll never work... you'll have me suicidal, suicidal, when you say it's over..."
-He's lefthanded, you know.
-"He's left-handed, so he's left-handed, he goes to his left..." Seriously, is Zach Randolph the only lefty in the NBA?!? Maybe the only lefty big man? Where's Zendon Hamilton?
-Marbury again into the paint, and gets fouled. That's alright, he likes it rough. 25-24 Celtics.
-Nate Robinson check in, and is hounding. He's "working diligently" on the defense.
-Jared Jeffries misfires on a jumper. Why is he shooting?!? His jumper makes me suicidal, suicidal....
-Pierce gets fouled. 28-25 Boston.
-Nate off a screen, for two. 28-27 Boston.
-Jeffries with great defense on Pierce to end the quarter. Boston up 28-27.
The Celtic's second unit did a good job of hanging with the Knicks' far superior second unit. Let's see if they can keep it up. If so, maybe I've underestimated the Celtics' depth.
2nd Quarter:
-Nate opens up with a nice runner. 29-28 Knicks.
-David Lee forces a turnover, Nate completes the play by getting upcourt the quickest. 31-28 Knicks.
-Jeffries with good defense on Ray Allen.
-Marbury gets fouled again, where else... in the paint. 35-28.
-Malik Rose blocks somebody!
-Then Robinson tosses a perfect assist to Rose, for a dunk! 37-28. What, did Malik Rose suddenly find a box of ups laying around the apartment? It's like that one day a few month back when I woke up, and had suddenly regain my perfect 20/20 vision from when I was 9 years old.
-Jeffries again on Allen... great defense by Jared.
-Robinson... another beautiful feed to Jeffries. 39-28 Knicks. Timeout, Boston! Crowd is pumped.
-Nate Robinson with another jumper. 41-28 Knicks. Nate now has 8 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds so far.
-The Knicks' 16-0 run is ended broken by a foul on Rondo. 41-30.
-Jeffries again with good defense. Okay, let's keep him. Seriously, this is the reason why he has some value - you can't see the difference he's made in shutting down Ray Allen in the box score, but it's all him right now.
-Nate Robinson, pretty pass inside to David Lee. 45-30 Knicks.
-Nate to a wide open Malik Rose, who shoots the three since, f*ck it, he's never been so open, and today is retro day for him. Why not... he's dunked and blocked a shot already. He misses the chance to call it a season, though, when the three bricks. Good pass, though!
-Curry can't finish as 5 Celtics collapse on him in the paint. Hell, even a ref collapse onto him. This is how black holes are formed, no?
-Nice pass again from Nate to Jeffries, who can't finish. "A brick off glass", according to Walt Frazier. There's only so much Nate can do! That's always a risk when you pass the ball to Jared Jeffries.
-Eddie House is the Celtics' backup point guard?!? I knew he was on the team, but he's their backup point? That's reason #4 to not bet on the Celtics this season. Unless they somehow trade for Sam Cassell.
-Garnett shows Curry power. Nice dunk. He's a monster. 47-34 Knicks.
-Curry tries to power Garnett on the other end, but winds up travelling.
-Nate draws a charge on Ray Allen. 8 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, a charge drawn, tenacious defense... Nate Robinson is inspiration tonight.
-Curry draws a foul on Garnett on an entry pass. Nice work, Eddy.
-Curry for 2, then Garnett for 2. 49-36 Knicks.
-KG follows an Allen brick with a dunk. 49-38 Knicks. KG is heating up.
-Zach Randolph with a nice move. A slo-mo drive results in a layup. 51-38.
My GF's brother and I were breaking on Sean Kingston the other day. Once you saw him in the video, didn't it sort of make sense that he's depressed? He's that fat loser kid, isn't he? There are other reasons he's got to be suicidal besides girls.
-Garnett again. 51-40.
-Randolph is abusing Posey. Gets fouled 53-40. Nice to see a big man who can hit he's free throws. By the way... I think Zach Randolph shoots his free throws lefthanded.
-Garnett blocks Richardson. Pierce gets inside for the shoot and one. 53-45 Knicks.
-Zach shows his distance with a nice 18-footer. He has 12 points. 55-45.
-Curry fouls KG. 55-46 Knicks. That's three on Curry. That wasn't even a good foul.
-Randolph gets blocked by KG (#3). He's intense tonight. It must be Monday.
-Nice play by Richardson - he draws a charge on Pierce on a fast break for the Celtics. 55-46 at the half.
Steph has 11 points, Nate has 8, and Randolph has 12.
3rd Quarter:
-Crawford with a nice extra pass to Curry (he could have shot an open three), but Curry can't finish. Still, it's obviously why they have such good chemistry.
-Marbury again into the paint, with a jumper. 57-46.
-Pierce with a nice move on Richardson. 57-48.
-Nice pass Crawford to Curry, in the post. 59-48. Imagine if Curry could stay on the court for slightly more than Jerome James.
-KG is too quick for Curry. 59-50.
-Curry on Garnett, draws KG's third foul. Nice work Eddy.
-Richardson blocks Pierce (#3).
-Randolph with his right hand. 61-50.
-Marbury with a nice steal on a cross-court pass, and then all the way to the hoop for the finish. 63-50
-Crawford with good defense (!), causing a turnover.
-Marbury... bad pass to Curry. That's a typical Steph bad pass - just not in the right spot.
-Pierce draws another foul on Richardson (#4). Q-Rich gets fed up, T'ed up. 63-53.
-Nice offense rebound by Wilson Chandler, who just checked in for the first time tonight in place of Q-Rich.
-Curry gets called for foul #5.
-Pierce with another nice move. 65-58.
-Chandler with a vicious block of KG's shot, but David Lee gets called for some body contact. Still, the crowd loved seeing the rookie snuff KG's shot. 65-60.
-Marbury to a wide open Chandler, who misses a three. In and out. Nice look, though.
-Crawford with a hard foul on Ray Allen, who hits the floor hard. Garnett pushes, tempers flare.
-Not a flagrant foul. Have to see the replay.
-Ah, nope... that wasn't a flagrant. Ray was more off balance than anything, which is why he ended up hitting the floor hard. Oh, and here's a replay of Pierce grabbing Crawford by the chin. Looks who is tough now that he has Garnett on his team. Whatever, Paul. 65-61
-Chandler with a nice strong move, but is called for a charge. He's looking good so far, though.
-Pierce hits another 2 FTAs. 65-63 Knicks.
-David Lee is fouled. 67-63, as he hits both. His FT% has really improved this year.
-Randolph hits a big 15-footer after Boston had gotten to within a point. 69-66.
-Pierce again draws a foul. 69-68.
-Nate with a big shot. 71-68.
-And Nate again with a big shot, this one for three. 74-68. Nate Robinson is metamorphising, yo.
-Nate up ahead to Steph, who gets fouled. 79-69.
-Nate draws a charge... he's a monster tonight.
And Pierce ends the quarter with a big three, despite Fred Jones' hands in his face. 79-72.
4th Quarter:
-Good defense by Jeffries, who is back in the game. Doing what he does. Which is good defense.
-Nice entry pass by Nate to Lee. Lee gets fouled. The passing is so damn nice tonight by Robinson.
-Nate again with a nice pass to Jeffries, but he can't handle it. That's the curse of Jared Jeffries.
-Ray Allen gets blocked by Fred Jones.
-Crawford nice assist to Lee. 5 assists for Crawford so far.
-Jeffries' lazy pass gets stolen. Sigh.
-Nate Robinson with a nice pass to David Lee, who is fouled hard. Lots of chattering between the two teams now. 80-76 Knicks.
-Marbury, nice feed inside to Lee. 82-78. The Knicks are passing well tonight.
-Nate Robinson picks off a bad Garnett pass (the result of Randolph and Curry doubling him), takes it home for an easy deuce. 84-78.
-Again the double team (this time Nate) forces Garnett into a turnover. 85-78.
-KG blocks Randolph. What is that, #4? #5?
-Lee grabs a board, then does a nice touch pass to Randolph, who wasn't expecting it. He's not ready, but damn that was nice David!
-Steph - good defense on Ray Allen, then Malik Rose draws a charge.
-Nate is guarding two Celtics by himself. And guarding them well. Impressive.
-James Posey hits back to back threes to cut it to 89-85 Knicks with 4:00 to go.
-Both teams want this badly. It's like a playoff game here.
-KG foul, 91-85 Knicks,.
-Pierce out of bounfs (Crawford got a piece of it). Good defense.
-Ray Allen brick off glass.
-Nate to Marbury, blocked by KG on the fast break!
-Ray Allen another brick.
-David Lee travels trying to make a post move.
-Rondo for two. 91-87. 1:00 to go!
-Crawford misses, but Lee gets the offensive rebound (#14).
-Randolph gets blocked by KG. At least we know who the go-to guy on the Knicks in critical situation is.
-Pierce misses, Randolph rebounds, gets fouled by KG on purpose. 93-87, 17 seconds left.
-Garnett gets robbed by Randolph (great defensive play). That should do it.
-Jared Jordan checks in. That has to make it official.
The Knicks won a tough game that was hard fought. The Celtics came in determined to prove they are the team to beat in the East, and the Knicks were trying to do the same. It's not even the real season yet, but the Knicks just picked up a big (though meaningless) win. Self-confidence is huge, and the Knicks have it right now.
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Just off-hand, Bosh is a lefty big man, and so is Raef LaFrentz, though he uses it mostly for three-pointers and rehab.
Anyway, sounds like a good game. The Celts have quality, but the Knicks have quantity - we'll see which pans out over the season.
We can't stress this enough: Zach Randolph is left handed.
We can't stress this enough: Zach Randolph is left handed.
The Knicks play a great game against the Celtics and nobody really cares. They get blown out by the Celtics, it's discussed repeatedly on Sportscenter.
I never thought I'd be cheering for the Knicks, but since it's a choice between the Knicks and the Celtics,
GO KNICKS!