Knicks (0-1) at Celtics (1-0) Game 2 4/19

[Roy H.]

Whoops, one of my comments got deleted.

Yeah, you were out of line there.  I'll chalk it up to extreme frustration, and will forget it happened.

[Tenacious D]

If JO is healthy, I see no reason why he shouldn't be there in the closing minutes.

My guess is, he's not healthy.  Doc might love Baby, but he's not an idiot.

It has to do with them going small. BBD usually closes games for us anyhow.

Creatuere of habit, Doc is.

[Jon]

The only reason this game was close was due to the second chances the Knicks got and more generally, the difference in rebounding between the 2 teams. It's an issue that needs to be addressed and adjusted right away.

Maybe we could get the league to reverse the Perk trade.

(Just kidding, folks.)

Or we could get Doc to take Baby's short butt out of the game and put in a real center.  

And that's not even me whining about Baby.  This is me whining about Doc refusing to play his 7-foot center in the 4th quarter while we were getting slaughtered on the boards.  

And unlike Perk, JO isn't a liability at the free throw line.  So there really was no excuse.  

[tenn_smoothie]

The only reason this game was close was due to the second chances the Knicks got and more generally, the difference in rebounding between the 2 teams. It's an issue that needs to be addressed and adjusted right away.

addressed right away ??

they haven't been able to rebound for two years now - if it was gonna be "addressed," it would have been done by now.

[Roy H.]

If JO is healthy, I see no reason why he shouldn't be there in the closing minutes.

My guess is, he's not healthy.  Doc might love Baby, but he's not an idiot.

It has to do with them going small. BBD usually closes games for us anyhow.

Creatuere of habit, Doc is.

I don't buy it.  JO played down the stretch in Game 1, playing the vast majority of the last six minutes. 

[jimmehx]

So does Billy Walker apologize to his team for tonight?

0-10... poor guy!

[Silent Storm]

It can be addressed by having Pierce and Rondo dig down on the boards when KG goes over to help on defense. It's been discussed before.

[European NBA fan]

If JO is healthy, I see no reason why he shouldn't be there in the closing minutes.

My guess is, he's not healthy.  Doc might love Baby, but he's not an idiot.

It has to do with them going small. BBD usually closes games for us anyhow.

Creatuere of habit, Doc is.

I don't buy it.  JO played down the stretch in Game 1, playing the vast majority of the last six minutes. 

Yeah but that was with Amar'e and Turiaf playing and with a stone cold Melo.

[TheBigFive]

If JO is healthy, I see no reason why he shouldn't be there in the closing minutes.

My guess is, he's not healthy.  Doc might love Baby, but he's not an idiot.

It has to do with them going small. BBD usually closes games for us anyhow.

Creatuere of habit, Doc is.

I don't buy it.  JO played down the stretch in Game 1, playing the vast majority of the last six minutes.  

Well you should. If I remember correctly, Amare was in there so was Turiaf.  Doc hates gambling period.  He doesn't like going away from his 'game plan' to match the opponents.  Let's not forget BBD closes games for us.  He did that even in our days with Perkins.

I'm not disagreeing with you on this one.  I do not think BBD should play this many minutes at all.  I'd much rather have Green play the role BBD is playing right now.  Switch their minutes and just go even smaller with Green.  That's just not how Doc plays this game.  He knows what he can get out of BBD and prefers someone who knows the system better than the others.

[GDAbraham]

I'll go out on a limb and say we need JO to play and if that wrist was shady then I can see why he might not want him to risk it after all we've been through. I might not agree entirely, but we don't want to see Curly starting with no backup for the rest of this series.

[Roy H.]

If JO is healthy, I see no reason why he shouldn't be there in the closing minutes.

My guess is, he's not healthy.  Doc might love Baby, but he's not an idiot.

It has to do with them going small. BBD usually closes games for us anyhow.

Creatuere of habit, Doc is.

I don't buy it.  JO played down the stretch in Game 1, playing the vast majority of the last six minutes.  

Well you should. If I remember correctly, Amare was in there so was Turiaf.  Doc hates gambling period.  He doesn't like going away from his 'game plan' to match the opponents.  Let's not forget BBD closes games for us.  He did that even in our days with Perkins.

I'm not disagreeing with you on this one.  I do not think BBD should play this many minutes at all.  I'd much rather have Green play the role BBD is playing right now.  Switch their minutes and just go even smaller with Green.  That's just not how Doc plays this game.  He knows what he can get out of BBD and prefers someone who knows the system better than the others.

Yeah, Doc just said that JO was fine, and that he wanted BBD in there to "stretch the floor" and to match up with NY's small lineup.

Stupid.  I *hate* when Doc matches up with opposing teams, rather than making them match up with us. 

[albas89]

If JO is healthy, I see no reason why he shouldn't be there in the closing minutes.

My guess is, he's not healthy.  Doc might love Baby, but he's not an idiot.

It has to do with them going small. BBD usually closes games for us anyhow.

Creatuere of habit, Doc is.

I don't buy it.  JO played down the stretch in Game 1, playing the vast majority of the last six minutes. 

The only logical(whatever...!!) explanation I can come up with is that Baby could follow Melo on that double team we had on him and rotate faster than JO...

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

Just remember last year the game D-Wade willed Miami to win. That was Carmelo this game, in all his Bernard King channeling glory, and we won. We lost that D-Wade game.

 People seem to think at times that our road the last few years was rosy and just a breeze. Atlanta took the C's to 7. Not like we just sauntered through the playoffs last year. And this Knicks team is better than people give them credit for. They haven't been playing together for very long and those who say they are scrubs are foolishly mistaken. Lots of good players on their squad. So, the idea that these should all be blow-outs is absurd, in my mind at least.

[Thruthelookingglass]

frustrations aside, we all want our team to succeed.

As muc as I want to believe that's true, sometimes I wonder. (That's not a hit on you, just a comment on the general negativity around these parts nowadays.)

I've spent years on this thread with some of the bitterest naysayers -- they are still here, night in and night out as they have been for years.  When you have such high hopes for this team, their play sometimes can be heartbreaking.  The real faint of heart aren't here at all. 

[Thruthelookingglass]

So does Billy Walker apologize to his team for tonight?

0-10... poor guy!

I dunno.  Maybe he still considers himself a Celtic!