The Next Lamb: The New York Knicks

Game 24: Boston (19-4) at New York (16-9)

Wednesday, December 15

7 p.m. Eastern

ESPN

Last meeting: @Boston 105, New York 101 (10/29/2010)

Long time, no talk. Another semester of law school is in the books, and I've got little to do until Friday other than recycle the mountains of empty TaB cans that have accumulated in my apartment over the last several weeks. So it's time to talk a little Cs.

Last time I posted a game recap, Boston had nearly blown a big lead late against Portland before hanging on for its fifth straight victory. Since that game, the Celtics have continued their winning ways, stretching the streak to 10 with wins over Chicago, New Jersey, Denver (sans Carmelo Anthony), Philadelphia, and Charlotte.

That ten-game streak marks the longest active streak in the league. Second is Miami, with nine straight wins.

Third? Eight games. The New York Knicks.

That's right, after starting off 8-9, the Knicks have run off eight in a row and certainly seem like a different team than the one we beat in the season's first week. "Different" might not be the right word, actually. These Knicks are doing the same thing they've always done under coach Mike D'Antoni -- namely score points and not play defense -- but they're doing it much more effectively this season. Amar'e Stoudemire, in particular, has hit a groove (he's scored 30 or more points in a franchise-record eight straight games) and point guard Raymond Felton has brought a little bit of scoring punch along with his playmaking prowess, a double Chris Duhon never could pull off. Felton's no Steve Nash, but he's grown comfortable in D'Antoni's system rather quickly. Wilson Chandler got off to a great start on the wing for them and has put up solid numbers all year; just as he started to cool off, it seemed like Danilo Gallinari shook off his slow start and began to heat up.

Where the Knicks are vulnerable is on the interior. Stoudemire's been starting at the five with Chandler and Gallinari alongside in the frontcourt. If Shaq plays, it'll either force Stoudemire to work on defense or D'Antoni to bring in one of his real centers, Timofey Mozgov and Ronny Turiaf -- both of which are good things for Boston. But Shaq's missed the last two games with a sore calf and is questionable for Wednesday. If he can't go, the start will likely fall to Semih Erden, who has done a nice job of late but who isn't going to force D'Antoni into any lineup changes.

As well as the Knicks have been playing during this streak, they've won only two games against teams I would describe as anything other than "bad": at New Orleans against the suddenly struggling Hornets, and at home against the Nuggets in Carmelo Anthony's shameless showcase after sitting out two nights before in Boston. Basketball, when you boil it down, is just offense and defense, and the Knicks are pretty good at offense and pretty bad at defense. If you can pretty well on both ends -- not just okay, but it doesn't have to be spectacular, either -- you have a good chance at beating them, winning streak or no winning streak.

The Next Lamb: The New York Knicks

Game 3: New York (1-0) at Boston (1-1)

Date: Friday, October 29, 2010

Time: 7:30 p.m. (Eastern)

TV: NBA League Pass (still free! Also free for the time being on League Pass Broadband!)

The Knicks have not been very good for the last several years, and Boston has had little trouble with them recently. New York plays the uptempo style that coach Mike D'Antoni ran with success in Phoenix, but he hasn't had the horses in the Big Apple that he had out in the desert.

During the offseason, however, the Knicks went out and got him one of those horses -- Amare Stoudemire -- from the Suns. They were hoping for LeBron James or Chris Bosh (actually, they were hoping for James and Bosh), but Stoudemire is a great consolation prize. Their other big move in free agency was to go out and get Charlotte's Raymond Felton to run the point. Felton is far from Stoudemire and D'Antoni's running mate in Phoenix, Steve Nash, but he's a significant upgrade over Chris Duhon and Toney Douglas at what is a very important position in the D'Antoni system.

The first look in the regular season at New York's new pieces was not terribly encouraging. The Knicks won, yes, and it was on the road, but it was against what is probably going to be a pretty bad Toronto team. And despite their frenetic pace, they scored just 98 points. Blame 43 percent shooting, including 7-for-24 from deep, for that. I didn't watch the game so I can't be sure, but last season, at least, the Raptors were not good defensively. So this may have just been a case of the Knicks missing shots.

Boston has not been a model of offensive efficiency in the early season, managing just 88 and 87 points in its first two games. The Knicks, however, will be a much easier team to unlock than the Heat and the Cavs were. Honestly, I think scoring against New York for a team like Boston comes down to things like mindset, energy, and effort. I'd like to think that after dropping that game to Cleveland, Boston will be hungry, particularly returning home. At the same, it is the third game in four nights at the very start of the season. We don't play again until Tuesday, however, so if it's necessary, Doc may play the starters a bit more than he normally would.

Defensively, Boston perhaps catches a break with Anthony Randolph's ankle injury keeping him out. Randolph, who came over from Golden State this offseason in the David Lee sign-and-trade, has only flashed potential in the early part of his career, but he's a skilled, mobile tall guy who would really put Boston in a tough spot if paired with Stoudemire up front. Instead of having to deal with Stoudemire while Kevin Garnett checks Randolph, Shaquille O'Neal will get the Russian rookie Timofey Mozgov, a banger who is more his style. (That's a great matchup for the Cs on both ends and I would expect to see us pound it to O'Neal in the post early.)

A quick note on the Celtics: As I was writing this, I got a flood of items to my RSS feed indicating that Delonte West punched Von Wafer after practice today. It's a developing story, and one you might hear about on tonight's broadcast if you watch the game. To be fair to Delonte, according to Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski, Delonte believes that Wafer was responsible for a comment, published by Alex Kennedy from an anonymous Celtic, that it was easy to tell when Delonte hadn't been taking his medication. (Delonte, if you don't remember, is bipolar.)

Boston 89, Charlotte 84

The Celtics followed a familiar pattern Saturday night, squeaking by a lesser opponent after blowing out Philadelphia the night before.

[recap] [box score]

Quick thoughts, since I'm in the middle of my contracts outline.

-League Pass Broadband cut out the first nine or so minutes of this one, so I didn't see Paul Pierce's quick six points in the first quarter. I did, however, see him score only five in the second and third quarters combined, only to notch eight in the final period. Even on a night where the offense wasn't coming easily to him, the fourth quarter is still his domain.

-Tony Allen played really well tonight. He was unselfish and made good decisions all night long. I was particularly pleased with his play at the start off the fourth. After Charlotte cut it to 68-67, Tony protected the lead by driving for a layup, and then, after a Raymond Felton turnover, kicked it to Eddie House for the three-pointer that made it a six-point game. It's always important to protect the lead like that. The starters would eventually lose that lead, but Tony really stepped up at the right time.

-I kind of like these Bobcats. The level of intensity and athleticism that Gerald Wallace plays with makes him a joy to watch; he's the kind of guy, like Detroit's Allen Iverson and Miami's Dwyane Wade, whose mix of talent and almost reckless effort makes basketball fun. This loss puts them at 5-11, but they've had a number of close losses this year. While they aren't constructed well enough to be a team about which you'd say that they are "almost there" and there problems go beyond needing to "learn how to win," they play hard and have some talented guys. If Felton had scored the ball better -- he had just four points on 2-of-15 from the field -- they might well have picked up win number six.

Three home games for the Celtics next week, starting with Orlando on Monday. The game is at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBATV, which means I won't be able to watch. That's probably good, since I have a lot of studying to do, but I'll peruse the box score and weigh in with a thought or two. Then comes the rematch with Indiana on Wednesday night, and then the fascinating Portland Trailblazers come to town on Friday. That one's on ESPN, so make sure you clear some time to watch.

Boston 102, Philadelphia 78

An outstanding performance on both ends from the defending champs. The Celtics held the Sixers to 28 points in the first half -- our best defensive half of the season, and Philly's worst offensively -- and the 76ers final total is only somewhat respectable thanks to the work of Louis Williams and Marreese Speights in a 31-point fourth quarter against our second- and third-stringers.

[recap] [box score]

Scoring in the NBA really doesn't get any more balanced than this. We scored 102 points tonight despite having just four guys in double figures, and no one had more than Ray Allen's 23. But all 11 guys who played scored -- Patrick O'Bryant's sweet jump hook on the second-to-last possession took care of that. Four guys off the bench had at least eight points: ten each for Leon Powe and Tony Allen; nine for Glen Davis, and eight for Eddie House.

Rajon Rondo again played great; he set the tone with three quick steals and finished with 12 assists. Kendrick Perkins also got off to a fast start, and had four blocks. Ray continued his torrid shooting, and Pierce didn't force anything (he shot just 1-for-6 in 27 minutes).

A few quick thoughts:

-Doc used a new substitution pattern in the first quarter tonight -- at least, I don't remember seeing it before. The first sub off the bench was Glen Davis, and he came in for Garnett. Usually, Doc removes Perk from the lineup with a few minutes remaining in the first, leaving KG out there to finish the quarter. That very well could be because Perkins is often in foul trouble, but I like the idea of resting Garnett in the first quarter if possible. It manages his minutes a bit better and gives us the option to go to him earlier in the second if the bench gets in trouble.

-Brian Scalabrine looks like he's made his way into the regular rotation. He's been playing pretty well, and I commend him for playing within himself despite the fact that every time he touches the ball the crowd yells for him to shoot. Still, if he's going to play meaningful minutes, he needs to be a little more aggressive, a little more like an NBA player. Too often, he's playing without conviction offensively. (On the defensive end, he's always playing hard).

-Tommy Heinsohn was back on the broadcast tonight, and late in the game, he mentioned the importance of the Celtics not being complacent when they play in Philly, because the Sixers were bound to be steamed about this blowout. He made reference to the next game being in Philadelphia, but it's actually back in Boston on December 23rd (look for me in section 312!). I think Speights' bush-league flagrant-two on Scalabrine in the waning moments took care of any concerns about complacency. Scalabrine was driving to the bucket for a reverse layup when Speights just reached out and shoved him in the back. It led to an ejection for Speights and a jawing match between Powe and Reggie Evans (this incident reminded of how much I hate Evans, by the way). I'm sure Boston will be plenty fired up on the 23rd.

-Tony played well tonight, but again he made the boneheaded play of the game. With time winding down in the third quarter, Boston was holding for one shot, though the shot and game clocks weren't quite synched; there was maybe a second and a half difference between the two. Tony drove for a layup and missed, and as the ball was coming off the rim, the shot clock buzzer -- which is quite discernible from the game clock horn -- sounded. Tony, who was in a great position to grab the rebound and lay it back in, apparently heard the buzzer and thought the quarter had ended, as he grabbed the ball and sort of tossed it over his head while walking backward. No harm, no foul, but it still bugs me to see stuff like that.

-Next game is Saturday night in Charlotte (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). Despite the fact that Friday's 115-108 overtime win at Indiana moved them to just 5-10 on the year, the Bobcats should have our attention. Though we went 3-1 against them last year, the one loss was in Boston in January, and we needed that miraculous House steal and Ray three at the horn to beat them in Charlotte in November. Of the other two wins, one was closeish and the other wasn't. And the Bobcats only had Gerald Wallace for one of those games due to various injuries.

In addition to Wallace, there are two Bobcats who are most concerning. The first is point guard Raymond Felton. Rondo has some trouble against quicker point guards, and Felton is one of the quickest. He averaged 17 points and nine assists in the four games against us last year, a few ticks above his season averages in each category.

The other is Jason Richardson, who averaged nearly 30 points per game in the first three contests with Boston last year (he was held to nine in the final game in April). Richardson is the brand of two-guard (think the Hawks' Joe Johnson) that Ray Allen has trouble with: a decent shooter with a good mid-range game who can get to the rim. That's the key matchup.

With Sean May and Adam Morrison continuing to disappoint, Bobcats coach Larry Brown has been going to some small lineups, with rookie D.J. Augustin joining Felton and Richardson on the perimeter. The selection of Augustin in this summer's draft left many scratching their heads, as Augustin and Felton are similar players and there aren't too many NBA teams who have been successful playing two guys who are each six feet tall, if that, alongside each other. I'm looking forward to seeing this lineup, and not a little bit because I have something of a financial interest in Augustin's development (I need him to average 24 mpg or more in a full NBA season after his fourth year in the league).

Perhaps the best news for the Cs is that while Ray Allen was the only starter to play more than 30 minutes against Philly, the Bobcats' big guns logged heavy mileage in the overtime win at Indiana. Felton played about 48 minutes; Richardson and Wallace each played around 42.