Knicks (19-35) at Celtics (35-19) 2/23

[Mike-Dub]

Even though the game was close.  Some reason I never felt it was in doubt.

[Cman]

Even though the game was close.  Some reason I never felt it was in doubt.

Yeah, it was the KNicks after all.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Some postgame stuff:
http://espn.go.com/blog/bostonceltics/post/_/id/4672071/postgame-notes-eddies-house?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[twinbree]

My roommate just sent me this quote from their board which made my night

You can't blame Chandler for that. He had to lay it up as the shot clock was winding down. Ray Allen just jumped like he was still in He Got Game.

On the not so funny side I hear there's not too much love for Eddie I guess it's harder to become fan fave when the team is on a losing streak.

[Kuberski33]

I think Nate will be a real plus for the team.

But... it was interesting to be on the receiving end of Eddie House.  Though he didn't hit his shots, his presence on the court is significant especially in games like this.  He made me nervous.  Ultimately, Nate will be more valuable (my guess), but Eddie is a fearsome shooter.  The last 2 he threw up I thought were going in. 

My thought was go to whoever Eddie was guarding.  I did kind of think that last shot was going in, but, Eddie just hasn't shot very well all year.  Personally I think his game is declining and the C's made a wise move dealing him, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he did a terrific job here for 2 seasons and helped win a title.

[jr_3421]

My roommate just sent me this quote from their board which made my night

You can't blame Chandler for that. He had to lay it up as the shot clock was winding down. Ray Allen just jumped like he was still in He Got Game.

On the not so funny side I hear there's not too much love for Eddie I guess it's harder to become fan fave when the team is on a losing streak.

Where did you hear this? Even at the worst of times I found it hard not to love Eddie!

[RJ87]

Glad to see Bill Walker play solid with his minutes.  There is NO REASON why he couldn 't have done that for the Celtics. Absolutely none, way to give a guy a chance Doc.  And dont give me excuses people. I ve seen way too much TA, & Scal this way; we know what they are;  i bet $$$$ once walker figures out how to stop fouling , he'll have a better career than both those 2

Honestly, if he couldn't get any minutes in NY then I wouldn't see him having much a career. The fact that he's getting some minutes on a Knicks team that is playing for next season is not necessarily a reflection that the C's were holding him back.

[lon3lytoaster]

Glad to see Bill Walker play solid with his minutes.  There is NO REASON why he couldn 't have done that for the Celtics. Absolutely none, way to give a guy a chance Doc.  And dont give me excuses people. I ve seen way too much TA, & Scal this way; we know what they are;  i bet $$$$ once walker figures out how to stop fouling , he'll have a better career than both those 2

Honestly, if he couldn't get any minutes in NY then I wouldn't see him having much a career. The fact that he's getting some minutes on a Knicks team that is playing for next season is not necessarily a reflection that the C's were holding him back.

But if he played on our 2006 team, everyone around here would be saying he had a future. It's a double standard.

[tenn_smoothie]

The last couple offensive trips with chances to ice the game were terrible.  Rondo didn't penetrate and Ray couldn't get a look for some strange reason.

The C's managed to hang on but definitely not the performance that was expected.  The C's gave up the second highest FG percentage against them for this season.  And it's not like the Knicks were making crazy shots --- most of them were wide open looks.  

Scraping out a home win against a terrible team after blowing a sizable lead.  

Unfortunately nothing much has changed...

i understand your thinking here - it is hard to watch this team struggle the way they do sometimes.

but the road trip was very encouraging and the team opened with a lot more hop tonite than they had before the break .............. and KG is slowly looking better. it's not a smooth upward improvement, more two steps up and one back, but that's the reality of coming back from most significant injuries.

one thing to remember about tonite vs knicks - these home date returns after long road trips are notorius trap games for all teams and remember, we played without our leading scorer.

very happy to get this win - a loss would have taken some shine off the promising road trip.

[RJ87]

Glad to see Bill Walker play solid with his minutes.  There is NO REASON why he couldn 't have done that for the Celtics. Absolutely none, way to give a guy a chance Doc.  And dont give me excuses people. I ve seen way too much TA, & Scal this way; we know what they are;  i bet $$$$ once walker figures out how to stop fouling , he'll have a better career than both those 2

Honestly, if he couldn't get any minutes in NY then I wouldn't see him having much a career. The fact that he's getting some minutes on a Knicks team that is playing for next season is not necessarily a reflection that the C's were holding him back.

But if he played on our 2006 team, everyone around here would be saying he had a future. It's a double standard.

the 06/07 squad was a losing team - we all loved that team no matter what, but they weren't winning anything... If a player is really NBA caliber, he should be able to crack the rotation on a crappy team with relative ease, there's not much competition for your spot. Walker (and Giddens) both had the "misfortune" on being part of a veteran, championship roster.

Yea, its a bummer that Doc doesn't trust the younger players more. But there's a lot of emphasis home court in the playoffs and wins have been far more important in from 07-now than they were during the 2006 season. Do you really think the Knicks front office cares if they make the playoffs this season? They've flushed their entire franchise for this summer, and are playing for next season. If you're really a talent worthy of the NBA, you SHOULD be able to be able to get a spot as a role player in that system.

But a role player for a contender and a role player for a team that's tanking are far different things.

[GreenFaith1819]

Wasn't able to follow the game, but thankful for the win..Marquis Daniels played well in Paul's absence, too, which is great.

I'll take this win..without Pierce..against a revamped Knicks team.

Nice pic on the CelticsBlog page with Eddie House. Take care, man.

Welcome to Nate Rob...he evidently didn't shoot well? Butterflies in stomach? Needed all four of his points, so all is good.

One day soon we'll see the home blowout, for a change. And it will be a good one against a great team....

Four out of Five for our Celtics! Get your rest, Paul we'll see you back next week.

[makaveli]

I just saw the game and I didn't like what I saw all game long. The Knicks, THE KNICKS, were getting anything they wanted.
Mike was telling all game long how bad their D was, and at that point it was 96 all in the 3rd qtr so we didn't do a great job either Mike.
This wasn't a game, it was a 40 min shooting contest and 8 min 5on5 game.
I'm really interested to see how we play the the next 22 games and 15 of them at home.

[amenhotep04]

Glad to see Bill Walker play solid with his minutes.  There is NO REASON why he couldn 't have done that for the Celtics. Absolutely none, way to give a guy a chance Doc.  And dont give me excuses people. I ve seen way too much TA, & Scal this way; we know what they are;  i bet $$$$ once walker figures out how to stop fouling , he'll have a better career than both those 2

Honestly, if he couldn't get any minutes in NY then I wouldn't see him having much a career. The fact that he's getting some minutes on a Knicks team that is playing for next season is not necessarily a reflection that the C's were holding him back.

But if he played on our 2006 team, everyone around here would be saying he had a future. It's a double standard.

the 06/07 squad was a losing team - we all loved that team no matter what, but they weren't winning anything... If a player is really NBA caliber, he should be able to crack the rotation on a crappy team with relative ease, there's not much competition for your spot. Walker (and Giddens) both had the "misfortune" on being part of a veteran, championship roster.

Yea, its a bummer that Doc doesn't trust the younger players more. But there's a lot of emphasis home court in the playoffs and wins have been far more important in from 07-now than they were during the 2006 season. Do you really think the Knicks front office cares if they make the playoffs this season? They've flushed their entire franchise for this summer, and are playing for next season. If you're really a talent worthy of the NBA, you SHOULD be able to be able to get a spot as a role player in that system.

But a role player for a contender and a role player for a team that's tanking are far different things.

I'm not saying that Walker, Giddens or anyone else is going to be a superstar, but the logic that playing a rookie or younger player will cost this team victories is terribly flawed. If integrating a player to play five or 10 minutes a game will cost this team victories, then it's not a very good team. The more a player plays, the more they'll develop. If you sit them on the bench, and then ask them to come in and play, they're going to be incredibly rusty and out of place.

I don't think anybody has said certain players should be starting or getting starter minutes, but to give guys spot minutes here or there is not going to result in losses.

But, the reality is we won't have to have this conversation again until next season when whatever rookies we have are on the bench and people are wondering why they're not playing.

[RJ87]

Glad to see Bill Walker play solid with his minutes.  There is NO REASON why he couldn 't have done that for the Celtics. Absolutely none, way to give a guy a chance Doc.  And dont give me excuses people. I ve seen way too much TA, & Scal this way; we know what they are;  i bet $$$$ once walker figures out how to stop fouling , he'll have a better career than both those 2

Honestly, if he couldn't get any minutes in NY then I wouldn't see him having much a career. The fact that he's getting some minutes on a Knicks team that is playing for next season is not necessarily a reflection that the C's were holding him back.

But if he played on our 2006 team, everyone around here would be saying he had a future. It's a double standard.

the 06/07 squad was a losing team - we all loved that team no matter what, but they weren't winning anything... If a player is really NBA caliber, he should be able to crack the rotation on a crappy team with relative ease, there's not much competition for your spot. Walker (and Giddens) both had the "misfortune" on being part of a veteran, championship roster.

Yea, its a bummer that Doc doesn't trust the younger players more. But there's a lot of emphasis home court in the playoffs and wins have been far more important in from 07-now than they were during the 2006 season. Do you really think the Knicks front office cares if they make the playoffs this season? They've flushed their entire franchise for this summer, and are playing for next season. If you're really a talent worthy of the NBA, you SHOULD be able to be able to get a spot as a role player in that system.

But a role player for a contender and a role player for a team that's tanking are far different things.

I'm not saying that Walker, Giddens or anyone else is going to be a superstar, but the logic that playing a rookie or younger player will cost this team victories is terribly flawed. If integrating a player to play five or 10 minutes a game will cost this team victories, then it's not a very good team. The more a player plays, the more they'll develop. If you sit them on the bench, and then ask them to come in and play, they're going to be incredibly rusty and out of place.

I don't think anybody has said certain players should be starting or getting starter minutes, but to give guys spot minutes here or there is not going to result in losses.

But, the reality is we won't have to have this conversation again until next season when whatever rookies we have are on the bench and people are wondering why they're not playing.

I think you completely miss my point - its not risking the win, so much as different teams have different goals so that player needs to exhibit different qualities to earn PT.
But its easy to say that Walker has potential because we see him dunk a few times in games every once in a blue moon... The coaching staff who saw him everyday in practice clearly don't know anything about him.

[amenhotep04]

Glad to see Bill Walker play solid with his minutes.  There is NO REASON why he couldn 't have done that for the Celtics. Absolutely none, way to give a guy a chance Doc.  And dont give me excuses people. I ve seen way too much TA, & Scal this way; we know what they are;  i bet $$$$ once walker figures out how to stop fouling , he'll have a better career than both those 2

Honestly, if he couldn't get any minutes in NY then I wouldn't see him having much a career. The fact that he's getting some minutes on a Knicks team that is playing for next season is not necessarily a reflection that the C's were holding him back.

But if he played on our 2006 team, everyone around here would be saying he had a future. It's a double standard.

the 06/07 squad was a losing team - we all loved that team no matter what, but they weren't winning anything... If a player is really NBA caliber, he should be able to crack the rotation on a crappy team with relative ease, there's not much competition for your spot. Walker (and Giddens) both had the "misfortune" on being part of a veteran, championship roster.

Yea, its a bummer that Doc doesn't trust the younger players more. But there's a lot of emphasis home court in the playoffs and wins have been far more important in from 07-now than they were during the 2006 season. Do you really think the Knicks front office cares if they make the playoffs this season? They've flushed their entire franchise for this summer, and are playing for next season. If you're really a talent worthy of the NBA, you SHOULD be able to be able to get a spot as a role player in that system.

But a role player for a contender and a role player for a team that's tanking are far different things.

I'm not saying that Walker, Giddens or anyone else is going to be a superstar, but the logic that playing a rookie or younger player will cost this team victories is terribly flawed. If integrating a player to play five or 10 minutes a game will cost this team victories, then it's not a very good team. The more a player plays, the more they'll develop. If you sit them on the bench, and then ask them to come in and play, they're going to be incredibly rusty and out of place.

I don't think anybody has said certain players should be starting or getting starter minutes, but to give guys spot minutes here or there is not going to result in losses.

But, the reality is we won't have to have this conversation again until next season when whatever rookies we have are on the bench and people are wondering why they're not playing.

I think you completely miss my point - its not risking the win, so much as different teams have different goals so that player needs to exhibit different qualities to earn PT.
But its easy to say that Walker has potential because we see him dunk a few times in games every once in a blue moon... The coaching staff who saw him everyday in practice clearly don't know anything about him.

Okay, gotcha now. But then there has to be better communication between scouts, Danny, and Doc. No? I mean why draft guys who sit on the bench. Trade the picks for future picks.

I'm not convinced that just because seeing someone in practice makes their knowledge unquestionable. And like I said, I'm not suggesting that either Giddens or Walker will be a superstar or even a serviceable player. It's just frustrating to draft players and then get rid of them without seeing much play on the court. I can't fault a player for being timid or rusty on the court when they're sitting for a few months.