Celtics (2-0) at Knicks (0-2) Game 3 4/22

[Fafnir]

I expect another hard fight from the Knicks. I think we'll be OK but a lot can go wrong on the visitors court in the playoffs. I would dearly love to win this game tonight and take care of business Sunday to get rest and get ready for the Heat in the Second round.

Hopefully, the added Lucky Charms this year will make a difference.

Celtics problems:

1) Rebounding
2) Shot selection and Ball Movement
3) Lack of Ball Movement leading to turnovers
4) The rest of the team not running hard with Rondo.
5) Bad bench play

They need to fix Problem #1 and at least two other problems to make progress in New York this weekend or this is coming back to Boston tied 2-2 and this campaign will not be looking too promising.

I'm not sure why many people think we will get rest if we win in 4, the Heat are likely to win their series in 4 before us, we would just start round 2 sooner.

We'd still get some extra rest time. The NBA doesn't start series as soon as possible, they wrap things up in roughly the same time period.

[hpantazo]

I expect another hard fight from the Knicks. I think we'll be OK but a lot can go wrong on the visitors court in the playoffs. I would dearly love to win this game tonight and take care of business Sunday to get rest and get ready for the Heat in the Second round.

Hopefully, the added Lucky Charms this year will make a difference.

Celtics problems:

1) Rebounding
2) Shot selection and Ball Movement
3) Lack of Ball Movement leading to turnovers
4) The rest of the team not running hard with Rondo.
5) Bad bench play

They need to fix Problem #1 and at least two other problems to make progress in New York this weekend or this is coming back to Boston tied 2-2 and this campaign will not be looking too promising.

I'm not sure why many people think we will get rest if we win in 4, the Heat are likely to win their series in 4 before us, we would just start round 2 sooner.

We'd still get some extra rest time. The NBA doesn't start series as soon as possible, they wrap things up in roughly the same time period.

I hope so, I just remember seeing other teams playing game 1 or 2 of the second round when we were getting ready for game 7 in the past

[ram]

Why? Is he any more likely to be hurt on a "trick dunk" than a regular one?

---------
Yes

[Jon]

At this point, Doc really needs to push the issue with Green.  He needs to run plays for him and take the pressure off of the Big Four.  If Shaq really can make it back by the end of the series, the C's can afford to potentially even risk this game a little bit by overplaying Jeff Green.  We're going to need him in later rounds. 

[Fafnir]

Why? Is he any more likely to be hurt on a "trick dunk" than a regular one?

---------
Yes

Why would that be? Have we seen a lot of dunk contest injuries? Do you have any basis for this belief? You didn't address the rest of my post either.

Players get hurt, whether in practice, games, or moving their bed (Kendrick Perkins).

A big man with Amar'e's past knee injuries having back spasms isn't anything out of the ordinary.

[guava_wrench]

He was dunking during warm ups whats dumb about that?

-------------------
Nothing.
"Trick dunks" before an important game is STUPID.

Why? Is he any more likely to be hurt on a "trick dunk" than a regular one?

A lot of players do stuff like that during warm ups to loosen up, its part of their routine. Why change up his routine for the playoffs?

Yes, he is. With trick dunks, you are more likely to hurt your back because there is a lot of twisting.

He should remove that from his routine. It doesn't matter if there wasn't a problem before. What matters is that he is increasing the odds of injury just to show off.

[hpantazo]

At this point, Doc really needs to push the issue with Green.  He needs to run plays for him and take the pressure off of the Big Four.  If Shaq really can make it back by the end of the series, the C's can afford to potentially even risk this game a little bit by overplaying Jeff Green.  We're going to need him in later rounds. 

I agree with everything except the part about affording to risk this game. you don't risk losing playoff games for player development, period.

[guava_wrench]

I expect another hard fight from the Knicks. I think we'll be OK but a lot can go wrong on the visitors court in the playoffs. I would dearly love to win this game tonight and take care of business Sunday to get rest and get ready for the Heat in the Second round.

Hopefully, the added Lucky Charms this year will make a difference.

Celtics problems:

1) Rebounding
2) Shot selection and Ball Movement
3) Lack of Ball Movement leading to turnovers
4) The rest of the team not running hard with Rondo.
5) Bad bench play

They need to fix Problem #1 and at least two other problems to make progress in New York this weekend or this is coming back to Boston tied 2-2 and this campaign will not be looking too promising.

I'm not sure why many people think we will get rest if we win in 4, the Heat are likely to win their series in 4 before us, we would just start round 2 sooner.

We'd still get some extra rest time. The NBA doesn't start series as soon as possible, they wrap things up in roughly the same time period.

I hope so, I just remember seeing other teams playing game 1 or 2 of the second round when we were getting ready for game 7 in the past

Less games means more rest. It is simple math. If the finals will start the first week of June, playing 12 games before then means a lot more rest than playing 21 games.

This is simple stuff if we don't make it confusing.

[hpantazo]

He was dunking during warm ups whats dumb about that?

-------------------
Nothing.
"Trick dunks" before an important game is STUPID.

Why? Is he any more likely to be hurt on a "trick dunk" than a regular one?

A lot of players do stuff like that during warm ups to loosen up, its part of their routine. Why change up his routine for the playoffs?

Yes, he is. With trick dunks, you are more likely to hurt your back because there is a lot of twisting.

He should remove that from his routine. It doesn't matter if there wasn't a problem before. What matters is that he is increasing the odds of injury just to show off.

I have to agree on this one, trick dunks generally provide more risk to injury, and having them as part of your pre-game routine is stupid.

[Fafnir]

I really don't buy the idea that a "trick dunk" is such a risky maneuver that no player should do it because its "dumb.

He should remove that from his routine. It doesn't matter if there wasn't a problem before. What matters is that he is increasing the odds of injury just to show off.

I'm not arguing that he should continue to do this sort of thing. I just don't think its fair to criticize him as being dumb for screwing around and dunking the ball in warm ups.

He's likely been doing this sort of thing his entire career.

[Celticsfan336]

I really don't buy the idea that a "trick dunk" is such a risky maneuver that no player should do it because its "dumb.

He should remove that from his routine. It doesn't matter if there wasn't a problem before. What matters is that he is increasing the odds of injury just to show off.

I'm not arguing that he should continue to do this sort of thing. I just don't think its fair to criticize him as being dumb for screwing around and dunking the ball in warm ups.

He's likely been doing this sort of thing his entire career.

When Tony Allen was playing the best basketball of his career, and decided to do a trick dunk after a whistle and tore his ACL, was that "stupid?"

You can tear your ACL going up for a dunk in the game, but id argue that doing trick dunks before a game is not stupid. Its just the luck of the draw, how many times you think tony allen has done a windmill? Just on this one he tore his acl and slowed down his careeer.

[aporel#18]

(Just to make you feel a little better, the Lakers and Hornets have the evil duo of Joey Crawford and Bennett Salvatore)

TP, sometimes I wish we shouldn't have to wait to give more than one... and sometimes it would be great to have a way to take away TPs, in the way you play RPG games  

wow, thinking about Joey "MVP" Crawford terrorizes me, but people, add Salvatore in, and you have a complete knightmare. It could only get worse if you add Bill Kennedy in the mix. Frightening.

I hope Stoudemire can play, it will mean more minutes for JO, and fresher legs for Baby. We need Doc to not overplay him, and if they play 3 SFs, I'd rather have Sasha than seeing Baby crawling up and down the court.

The Bricks will make their best to a hot start, but if the Celtics D is set, they can make NY surrender early in the game. The crowd will be great, but they can't keep with the Celtics without 2 of their best 3 players, and without a good bench.

I'm following Q, so TPs all around. Go Celtics!!! Ubuntu!!

[GrandTheftRondo]

Nervous...I'm just ready for this one to be over. I pray for a game where I'm not completely stressed out down to the final .1 of a second.

Never an easy task playing at MSG but there's no reason our guys shouldn't be up to it. Let's go C's. Finish them.

[P2]

So is Amare playing?

[Tai]

So is Amare playing?

Yes, and supposedly Billups isn't. I'm not sure of the name that black ESPN reporter woman, but she said it on TV earlier in the hour.