Something interesting from a conversation with a Knicks fan

[Celtic]

Last night I was speaking with a coworker of my wife who is a big baseball fan. Not being the biggest baseball fan out there, I told him I'm actually much more of a basketball fan. He asked if I was a Knicks fan, logical question since I live in New York. I told him I am a Celtics fan, he then looked at me and grinned as he said, "I hate to say it but I think the Celtics are going to get swept." In the moment I laughed and said, "I hope not, I don't think they will."

My attitude today is very different. For some reason, a fan base that hasn't seen a successful team in over a decade and mistakenly think's their franchise has a storied history, thinks it's over. Two game playoff series, Knicks win. They really don't understand how tough of an opponent they are facing here and just how hard it's going to be to extinguish their fire. Now it's foolish to think that a team's fans reflect the true emotions of it's players, but are they really that different in this case? The Knicks have been more than effective against the Celtics and have won two games easily. They've played their game and reaped the results. If this were a boxing match they've punched hard and often... tonight they get punched back.

The Celtics are a vastly improved team when playing at home, the crowd will be behind them tonight and New York will lose. Game four will be the deciding game in the series. What happens to the Knicks mentally? They're saying the right things, that it's not over and they have to do their job on the road. What happens if they can't? All they're hearing is that this series is over, and let's be honest, their actions portray a team that believes it is. What happens when the hype is wrong? When all of sudden the pressure amplifies, the stakes are higher and those jump shots aren't falling because the players are tightening up. What happens when Pablo Prigioni can't defend Paul Pierce and Raymond Felton remembers he's Raymond Felton?

I'm not saying the Celtics are going to win this series, although I think they can, I'm just saying this series is very far from over and thinking otherwise is premature.

[slamtheking]

Can't fault a Knicks fan for being confident.  It's not like the C's have shown they're the better team or are capable of playing at a sustained high-level at any point this year.

C's don't really have anyone that can carry them in this series.
-KG hasn't done much.
-Bass has rebounded and defended but not really scored.
-PP is trying but not really able to rack up a 35+ point game which is what this team needs.
-Green has yet to put together a full good game.  Just a half so far.
-No bigs are getting any real court time so they're not contributing.
-None of the guards are contributing an all-around game.  Sure AB had a decent scoring night in one of the games but he couldn't run the offense and threw the ball away repeatedly.  JET is just a waste of space.  Lee isn't getting time.  Crawford's still trying figure out what he's supposed to do.

knick fans have every reason to be confident.  C's fans, well, we can hope for better performances the rest of the series but that's about it-->hope

[edwardjkasche]

I'm a New England guy living in NYC for the past ten years.  I talk Sox and Celtics with a few close work friends who are all Yanks/Knicks fans.  My Knicks friends aren't as cocky as yours.

But, I have seen cockiness from Knicks fans who run ball in my weekly league.  Can't believe how many Melo jerseys and Knicks hats suddenly appeared at my weekly league, considering I hadn't seen many in previous few years.  I wanted nothing more than for the Cs to shut the mouths of the guys I run ball with.  Hasn't happened yet.

As for my co-workers, they're both still nervous about this series.  They deeply respect the Cs and fear what they're capable of when properly motivated for 48 minutes.  Neither of them think the Cs will take the series, but they're considering a 6-game series a good outcome. 

Then again, if the Cs lose tonight, it's probably time to put the team to sleep.  Down 3-0, this ain't 2004.

p.s. My co-workers also think that the Cs got hosed by the refs in Game 2 (for what that's worth).  They think the KG calls were a joke and that a number of obvious goal-tends went uncalled by the officials. 

[Fred Roberts]

Yeah, Knicks fans are irrationally confident (I live in NY too), but in this case it's justified.

We played two good 1st halves but allowed ourselves to get crushed by over the hill scrubs like Kenyon Martin and Kidd. If we can't handle dudes like that Knicks fans really should be confident.

If we don't have a coach putting our best perimeter defender on Ray Felton to stop the point of attack, I don't know what to say. We have the tools to be competitive but it doesn't look like it's happening.

Still excited to see if Doc's head is out of his a$$ or if we go back to the same losing tactics tonight. It would be fun to put a scare into Knicks fans and talk a little (or lot) of smack.

[Celtics4ever]

Knicks might beat us but they will get owned by the HEAT.  Confidence won't beat talent alone.

[PhoSita]

The Celtics looked like a team that was going to get swept in the first two games of this series, so I can't fault your friend for feeling that way.

[CelticConcourse]

Knicks might beat us

Disagree 100%

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Knicks might beat us

Disagree 100%

based on what OBJECTIVE empirical evidence???

[SparzWizard]

Knicks might beat us

Disagree 100%

based on what OBJECTIVE empirical evidence???

CelticsConcourse is too optimistic lol. Not that it's a bad thing, but realistically...long shot. I miss Rondo 

[lightspeed5]

oh boy

[timobusa]

yah. were gonna get swept

[LarBrd33]

Wrong thread