Celtics (49-19) at Knicks (35-34) 3/21

[barefacedmonk]

In the meantime, who do you guys think will be sweeping us in the playoffs?

Ainge, Shaq, JO, Krstic and The refs.

[outcry]

I've seen A LOT of fouls go uncalled. I hate MSG so much.

[fairweatherfan]

What's up with all the negativity guys?

TP.  I like your sentiment.  It's easier being negative.  That way if your hopes are dashed, you don't feel as bad.  You can say you "expected it".
Seriously, that's part of the psychology.

Yup, defensive pessimism.  Interesting stuff.

[ballin]

Yeah that little fiasco shouldn't have been a surprise.

When you field a lineup that has ZERO shotblockers in the NBA, it's toast. it's gonna get lit up, period. A krstic - BBD lineup is like the anti-rebounding/shotblocking lineup; the perimeter could be manned by michael jordan clones and it would still get lit up.

As far as the offense was concerned, well, Ray Allen was the only (typically) efficient player out there, and he went cold as ice. Look at BBD and Krstic's and Jeff Green's career TS%'s (they were taking the majority of shots, other than Ray). Again NOT SURPRISING.

Tossing Perk and Semih didn't help our team.

[Cman]

I hate Danny right now, he destroyed this team.

Hyperbole.  If the Cs still had Perk, would Rondo not have been injured and playing poorly the past few games?

[ejk3489]

Well, at least Mike D'Antoni teams are not known for hanging on to big leads. 14 isn't insurmountable but that kind of play's not gonna cut it.  Ugly, ugly half.

In the meantime, who do you guys think will be sweeping us in the playoffs?

Yeah exactly, it's the Knicks, anything can happen.

Plus Rondo looks real good tonight...so there's that.

[ballin]

In the meantime, who do you guys think will be sweeping us in the playoffs?

Ainge, Shaq, JO, Krstic and The refs.

lol TP.

Although Shaq could actually be our savior. If he plays like 36 minutes a game.

[vinnie]

Hard to believe the Knicks played last night

[CoachBo]

What's up with all the negativity guys?

TP.  I like your sentiment.  It's easier being negative.  That way if your hopes are dashed, you don't feel as bad.  You can say you "expected it".
Seriously, that's part of the psychology.

Chuckle. It's what people do here. Overreact.

Play harder on defense in the second half, move the ball off the point better - no, Rondo still isn't playing well - and move away from the basketball, and it'll be fine.

[GrandTheftRondo]

At the beginning of the season...all the way up to the all star break...on every message board, every basketball related website, every basketball article it was all "Who Would Possibly Be Able to Beat the Celtics for the NBA Championship?" We were a complete team. Unified. Tough. Scary. We were one. Even with some players out with injuries we were whole. No one could touch us and everyone knew it.

That sentiment is gone...now people are either laughing at us for making silly knee jerk trades or feeling sorry for us for Danny's stupidity.

Painful.

[kg is king]

The Knicks are leading the Celtics by 14 at halftime! Just say that a couple of times and you will understand how ridiculous that sounds. Really, why am I watching Celtics games when they show such an effort?

So turn it off? No one is forcing you to watch.

Jk...I am just as frustrated as you are. But you know this team is more than capable of performing better and we can only hope that'll be the case in the second half.

[Roy H.]

What's up with all the negativity guys?

TP.  I like your sentiment.  It's easier being negative.  That way if your hopes are dashed, you don't feel as bad.  You can say you "expected it".
Seriously, that's part of the psychology.

Well, when the team is playing like this, there's not a lot of reason for optimism.

You can rationalize -- we flipped the switch last year, the team is banged up and is missing players, etc. -- but the play on the floor stinks.  Fans in the game thread are reacting to that.

I don't think most fans are negative because they want to say they expected it, or to let themselves down.  Rather, a lot of the negativity comes from frustration and/or anger and/or disappointment.

If fans were uniformly negative in here -- which was often the case last year -- I'd be agreeing with you guys.  However, this year *most* members have only gotten negative when the team has played like absolute crap.  When the team turns it around -- like in the Hornets game -- the fans are quick to cheer them on, rather than adopting a "Debbie Downer" attitude.

[outcry]

Hard to believe the Knicks played last night

I believe it. Melo plays when he wants to and he obviously disappeared last night. He has fresh legs for tonight's game.

[YouCantHandleTheTruth!]

What's up with all the negativity guys?

TP.  I like your sentiment.  It's easier being negative.  That way if your hopes are dashed, you don't feel as bad.  You can say you "expected it".
Seriously, that's part of the psychology.

Moreover I would understand if we were getting torched by 20 points or more but we're down 14 at halftime against a Knicks team that played out of its mind defensively for one half, will get tired legs because of the back to back in the 2nd half, and we always play better in the 2nd half. Not worried, not to mention that 10 or 15 point leads mean nothing in the NBA, especially with the Knicks.

I hate to be negative, but I read too many excuses in your post.
By the way, the same excuses I read every time by "positive" fans when C's throw out such performances.

What's the big difference between being down 20 or 14 when you're playing THAT bad?

[Neurotic Guy]

I absolutely refuse to lay this defensive funk on the lack of Perk. 

Perk played in 12 games for this team this year.  We were a top defensive team before he returned.  No Shaq, No Perk, No JO is why we are weak in the middle right now.  2 of those 3 will return.  Shaq/Krstic/Baby will be fine for the playoffs -- even if JO gives us nothing.

Let's at least let this game play out before drawing the same ugly conclusions folks were ready to draw at half-time on Saturday.