Celtics (36-25) at Knicks (31-29) 4/16

[CelticG1]

Can't believe Pierce's night. Quietly had one of his best scoring nights ever and he was hobbled big time. Think that hurt us defensively a lot. He can hold his own for the most part against Melo defensively. Tonight though he couldn't even plant his foot to stay with him. I think he was hurting pretty bad. Even on offense he wasn't explosive, he just made some jumpers coupled with the Knicks pour defense (fouling)

[CelticSooner]

Similar to the C's heat game last week.

Very similar.

[hpantazo]

Weird game. Captain single-handedly scoring in the second half, but still not enough. Cushion was too big.
I hope Rajon is ok. That's a lot more important.

He'll be fine. Just a stinger...He was able to play after the fall.

You'd probably rest him tomorrow though.

Clearly needs some rest. He was uncomfortable with his movement for the rest of the game.

yeah just depends how it responds tomorrow

Rondo has had back issues before. I hope this one doesn't linger. I would give him the rest of the regular season off to be sure he's ok for round 1.

[nickagneta]

That's where JR Smith's size gives him an advantage over Bradley. Harder for Bradley as an undersized SG to contest that shot strongly.

Did great contesting the dribble.

I don't buy that. Add two inches to Bradley and that shot still goes in. That was just great offense by Smith.

Pierce does it to PGs all the time, nothing to buy size matters.

PGs on Pierce and Smith on Bradley on that particular play is apples and oranges.

Bradley played that perfect and honestly a 2-3" taller guard would have made no difference on that fall away. Regardless of size, some players can just score against anyone even with the best defense and Smith is one of them

Really dribble pull up shots are different when it's a 6 ft PG and it's a dribble pull up on a 6 2 SG?

6'6" Smith on 6'2" Bradley who has the reach of a player 3 inches taller than him and a 6'7" Pierce on a 6 foot PG with no reach is a huge difference. HUGE difference.

Were we watching the same play?

I know you are in love with size at the 2 position and have constantly posted that Bradley has had trouble with SGs with size but this one play was not proof of your theory Really were we watching the same play?

That was not a dribble up pull up jumper.

Smith tried to lose him side to side on the dribble pushed into him and jumped back for the shot after creating a sliver of space.

Pierce on the 1-3 switch where he has a PG on him just shoots right over the player. GIANT Difference.

[SparzWizard]

Celtics are walking wounded right now.

Back2back tomorrow. Exhausting game tonight. Looks like Orlando is gonna cruise by the C's...

[alajet]

Can't believe Pierce's night. Quietly had one of his best scoring nights ever and he was hobbled big time. Think that hurt us defensively a lot. He can hold his own for the most part against Melo defensively. Tonight though he couldn't even plant his foot to stay with him. I think he was hurting pretty bad. Even on offense he wasn't explosive, he just made some jumpers coupled with the Knicks pour defense (fouling)

He attacked the rim quite often for a night in which he was struggling physically. But yes, normally he wouldn't lose his feet against Carmelo's dribble that quickly.
Still kept fighting and logged 43 minutes, though.

[Fafnir]

That's where JR Smith's size gives him an advantage over Bradley. Harder for Bradley as an undersized SG to contest that shot strongly.

Did great contesting the dribble.

I don't buy that. Add two inches to Bradley and that shot still goes in. That was just great offense by Smith.

Pierce does it to PGs all the time, nothing to buy size matters.

PGs on Pierce and Smith on Bradley on that particular play is apples and oranges.

Bradley played that perfect and honestly a 2-3" taller guard would have made no difference on that fall away. Regardless of size, some players can just score against anyone even with the best defense and Smith is one of them

Really dribble pull up shots are different when it's a 6 ft PG and it's a dribble pull up on a 6 2 SG?

6'6" Smith on 6'2" Bradley who has the reach of a player 3 inches taller than him and a 6'7" Pierce on a 6 foot PG with no reach is a huge difference. HUGE difference.

Were we watching the same play?

I know you are in love with size at the 2 position and have constantly posted that Bradley has had trouble with SGs with size but this one play was not proof of your theory Really were we watching the same play?

That was not a dribble up pull up jumper.

Smith tried to lose him side to side on the dribble pushed into him and jumped back for the shot after creating a sliver of space.

Pierce on the 1-3 switch where he has a PG on him just shoots right over the player. GIANT Difference.

Yeah and smith doesn't get that shot off if bradley is the same size as him.

Your binkie played smith well, I'm not blaming him. But it was just an example of how his stature gives opposing SGs more options offensively.

[CelticSooner]

Celtics are walking wounded right now.

Back2back tomorrow. Exhausting game tonight. Looks like Orlando is gonna cruise by the C's...

They better not. No Howard, hobbled BBD.

[Lord of Mikawa]

Watching Pierce and Rondo play should give our bench a wakeup call. 2 points is nothing if you want to contend.

[CelticG1]

Can't believe Pierce's night. Quietly had one of his best scoring nights ever and he was hobbled big time. Think that hurt us defensively a lot. He can hold his own for the most part against Melo defensively. Tonight though he couldn't even plant his foot to stay with him. I think he was hurting pretty bad. Even on offense he wasn't explosive, he just made some jumpers coupled with the Knicks pour defense (fouling)

He attacked the rim quite often for a night in which he was struggling physically. But yes, normally he wouldn't lose his feet against Carmelo's dribble that quickly.
Still kept fighting and logged 43 minutes, though.

Yeah, I just think no one can really defend him on the Knicks so he kind of picked them apart slowly but surely

[hwangjini_1]

Steve Novak went 8-10 from 3 point land...that is absolutely ludicrous.

And smith was almost or equally insane shooting....yet the celtics closed to within 7 near the end? With pierce and rondo injuried?

This win does not speak highly of the Knicks chances in the playoffs.

But, now it is time to move on to another game.

[Senninsage]

I have nothing but positive things to say about this Celtics squad tonight. They did the absolute best they could without 2 very important bench players. Defensively and scoring, no way Ray and Pietrus don't have a major impact on this game. No way Novak and JR go off like that with our key bench guys in there to help us out.

Knicks bench 50 to our 2? That just doesn't happen with Ray and Pietrus there. And the Celtics starters played amazing. Bradley was fantastic, Rondo was near a triple double, KG did his thing, Pierce was unbelievable, Bass gave us some great minutes. What else is there, really. The Celtics were facing a tough uphill battle with pretty much no bench scoring support tonight, and they looked incredible.

[European NBA fan]

Sometimes Rondo is too tough for his own good.

[j804]

Not sure who kept on making the mistakes on the rotations, but Chandler killed us in that quarter offensively. YES OFFENSIVELY!!! And it had nothing to do with offensive rebounding.

It's because it was Doc's strategy help off Chandlers man when Melos in the post and we paid for it

[manl_lui]

Everyone calm down

Our starters scored 108 points
Their starters scored 63 points

Their bench scored 55 points (16-23 Threes)
Our bench scored only 2 points unfortunately

HOWEVER

Pros: they were up 21 we crawled all the way back to 6 points
Should the playoffs start now, beside Steve Novak, I do not fear the 3s from their bench. Let's see them keep this up for a 7 game series. This is one of those nights, they cannot miss. Pretty much like our 3rd game vs the Heat where KG couldn't miss. It's ok, Ray Allen and Pietrus also didn't play. When they get back, we should have our bench production of at least 20 ppg back. I am calling it.
Cons: Our pick and roll defense needs to improve. I lost count of the times Bibby and Tyson Chandler got us with those P&R dunks