Game Thread: New York Knicks @ Boston Celtics 7:30 pm 1/18/2017 [Game#43]

rady

Administrator
Staff member

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(18-24) -- (26-15)

VenueTVTIME
TD Garden, Boston, MAMSG7:30 PM EST


Possible starters:


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Injury Report

New York KnicksBoston Celtics
Kristaps Porzingis - Sore left Achilles (QUEST)James Young - Right ankle sprain (OUT)
Joakim Noah - Sore left ankle (QUEST)Tyler Zeller - Sinus infection (OUT)
Lance Thomas - Left orbital fracture (OUT)-


Game Preview

BOSTON -- Already saddled with a losing streak and all kinds of internal problems involving their star players, the New York Knicks now have to deal with Isaiah Thomas and the sizzling Celtics Wednesday night at TD Garden.

Thomas has been on fire all season, but especially since returning from a four-game absence with a groin strain.

The Celtics, winners of seven of their last eight, are 13-3 since Thomas' return. Thomas is averaging 31.6 points per game over that span and increasing his fourth-quarter production to an NBA-record (since they started tracking this in 1996) 10.1 points per games.

He has had eight games of at least 15 points in the fourth quarter and is the only player in the league with three 20-point fourths.

"Yeah, he's a special, special player, obviously," teammate Kelly Olynyk said Monday, after Thomas scored 17 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter in a victory over the Charlotte Hornets. "I don't know if there's another person in the world doing what he's doing. It's unfathomable to sit there and watch every night."

Said his coach, Brad Stevens: "It says a lot about him and the level he's playing at. I think it says a lot about the fact that he's got a lot of skilled guys around him that are hard to leave (in coverage).

"... I truly believe that there's going to be a fourth quarter in the very near future where he has five assists and he takes one or two shots because that's the right basketball play to be made."

The addition of Al Horford has helped spread the floor for Thomas, who has added looking at his imaginary watch after baskets, showing the fourth quarter is his time.

Thomas, averaging 28.4 points and 6.1 assists per game for the season, had 29 and 27 points in the Celtics' two wins over the Knicks, the latest win coming on Christmas Day at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks have won twice since then, losing one game when Derrick Rose left the team without telling anyone and flew home to Chicago to see his mother, who has since moved to New York. There is the usual Carmelo Anthony stuff, including his battles with team president Phil Jackson -- and talk Jackson might deal Rose, who is in the final year of his contract.

The picture isn't a pretty one for first-year coach Jeff Hornacek, who says he is leaning toward putting Kristaps Porzingis at center when the talented second-year returns from an Achilles injury. Porzingis has missed the last three games and hopes to come back soon.

The move would send major disappointment Joakim Noah to the bench.

Then, a multiple-sourced piece on ESPN Tuesday noted Jackson, in a meeting that was anything but friendly, has asked Carmelo Anthony, who has a no-trade clause, whether he wants to remain with the Knicks.

Sunday, Anthony said, "If that's the case, if that's where it's coming from, that side, I guess it's a conversation we should have. If they feel my time in New York is over, I guess that's a conversation we should have."

While the Knicks are in turmoil, the Celtics' train is rolling merrily along, with Thomas leading the way, Horford getting into All-Star playing shape and contributions coming from the bench -- including two big games in a row by Olynyk.

"Guys have worked tremendously hard on their game, on their shooting abilities," said Thomas. "We're shooting at a high level, and I got to say, you just have to pick your poison who you want to stop, and my job is just to make the right play each and every time down."

(cbssports.com)
 

mafra

Legend
So much has changed for these teams since the Xmas afternoon matchup. As usual, NYK season on verge of being over before Feb. A loss today probably a win for the org in the long run....
 

tiger0330

Legend
Doesn't surprise me that Noah has an ankle injury, I thought to myself the guy can't jump for crap on that last tip in the ATL game. His ankle injury may have been why he didn't get enough lift on that tip.
 

Weissenberg

Grid or Riot
So much has changed for these teams since the Xmas afternoon matchup. As usual, NYK season on verge of being over before Feb. A loss today probably a win for the org in the long run....
Boston has been on the rise for a while now and their record proves it (.634, one can only dream). We on the other hand... do we have a serious shot at getting a lottery pick? Don't think so, we're 12th counting from the bottom right now. As always we're too good to commit to seriously tanking the season and too bad to think about the playoffs.
 

tiger0330

Legend
Weiss 12th from the bottom is a lottery pick. So hard to build a team through the draft, MN with KAT Wiggins LaVine playing .333 ball and headed to the lottery again. Plus Bennet a past 1st pick out of the NBA, no one from last years draft making an impact yet. Its a crap shoot with the draft.
 

mafra

Legend
Knicks with a solid effort.... Kuz, Willy H, Plummer, Holliday all brought the energy. They dominated the glass... Rose carried the load and Lee with an all-around stat-filling effort. You wonder where this is most nights.... but, we see with this team the trouble is finishing games.... recent collapses NY not closer to .500.

Just makes you think what this team might do in the playoffs if they avoid CLE & TOR in the first round.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Weiss 12th from the bottom is a lottery pick. So hard to build a team through the draft, MN with KAT Wiggins LaVine playing .333 ball and headed to the lottery again. Plus Bennet a past 1st pick out of the NBA, no one from last years draft making an impact yet. Its a crap shoot with the draft.

The Wolves roster has some creative young talent to trade the next two seasons to get some veteran talent ..
first the Wolves has to peddle off Rubio's $28M next 2 season contract on the next team
 

mafra

Legend
Kuz goes for 17 & 6.... BOS has 3 turnovers and made 27/29 FT.... but rose had 32 and the reserves dominated BOS bench.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Knicks with a solid effort.... Kuz, Willy H, Plummer, Holliday all brought the energy. They dominated the glass... Rose carried the load and Lee with an all-around stat-filling effort. You wonder where this is most nights.... but, we see with this team the trouble is finishing games.... recent collapses NY not closer to .500.

Just makes you think what this team might do in the playoffs if they avoid CLE & TOR in the first round.


Finally - finally .. Five Knicks players came off the bench to receive 20 minutes of playing-time in a game this season .. its about time!!!
Plus our Starter lineup had 3 bench players in it .. about TIME
 

and1

Rotation player
feel good win. short-handed in a big way. no KP or noah. the Q rides pine because he just didn't quite have it tonight. baker gets into foul trouble and only plays like 11 minutes. but i'm still suspicious. i still want dolan to fire everybody :smokin:
i'll tell you what though... i like jennings, lee and holiday with those minutes together.
 

and1

Rotation player
Knicks with a solid effort.... Kuz, Willy H, Plummer, Holliday all brought the energy. They dominated the glass... Rose carried the load and Lee with an all-around stat-filling effort. You wonder where this is most nights.... but, we see with this team the trouble is finishing games.... recent collapses NY not closer to .500.

Just makes you think what this team might do in the playoffs if they avoid CLE & TOR in the first round.

they're going to have to go on a nice run to avoid those guys in the 1st. next bunch of games are very winnable, but you just never know if jekyll or hyde is going to show up tomorrow night against the wizzies.
 

mafra

Legend
And NY is something like 1-7 on second game of back-2-backs.... nothing would surprise me.... still, unless this team goes on a run (like it did when Woodson was here) and win 13 of 18..... something like that.... this team won't crack the 37 win barrier.
 

WVKnickfan

Rotation player
I absolutly love watching our young guns play on the court together without Melo and Rose.They are some very talented young players we got and its been showing on the court for two weeks now.They can score at ease by creating their own shot.They outplayed a very good team in the celtics and that is saying something b/c the celtics own us.They play so much better without melo on the court! They play fast tempo and defense! Thats what Horn wants and you are starting to see more minutes given to the youngsters.
 

tiger0330

Legend
they're going to have to go on a nice run to avoid those guys in the 1st. next bunch of games are very winnable, but you just never know if jekyll or hyde is going to show up tomorrow night against the wizzies.
At this point I could care less if they have to meet the Cavs in the 1st rd, just make the playoffs at this point. One game at a time, the Wiz have won 7 of 10 so they're no pushover. I'm still positive about the talent on this squad esp when KP gets back, I just think Horn just has to find the lineup to unleash it. Kuz starting and CLee coming off the bench seems to be a start and maybe Noah not playing was addition by subtraction, paving the way for KP to play the 5 and Melo at PF. I'm not confident that Baker is the answer as the starting SG but play him there until it stops working. We need to finish out the month playing at least .500 ball and then take that momentum into the rest of the season.
 

Weissenberg

Grid or Riot
Weiss 12th from the bottom is a lottery pick. So hard to build a team through the draft, MN with KAT Wiggins LaVine playing .333 ball and headed to the lottery again. Plus Bennet a past 1st pick out of the NBA, no one from last years draft making an impact yet. Its a crap shoot with the draft.
I guess what I wanted to say is in order to get a good pick you need to tank all season long. Being 12th from the bottom you're highly unlikely to get a top 3 draft pick, the odds are <1%. But anyway, we won, our schedule till early February looks okish, so you never know, maybe we'll turn things around and get to a >.500 record before the All-Star break?
 

mafra

Legend
"The Post has learned the stretch provision (spreading out the cap hit over a longer stretch of years for a waived player) still will be in the new CBA. Jackson can use it on the Hell’s Kitchen product this offseason or next."

The article says KP-Melo-Kuz should be the starting front court.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
At this point I could care less if they have to meet the Cavs in the 1st rd, just make the playoffs at this point. One game at a time, the Wiz have won 7 of 10 so they're no pushover. I'm still positive about the talent on this squad esp when KP gets back, I just think Horn just has to find the lineup to unleash it. Kuz starting and CLee coming off the bench seems to be a start and maybe Noah not playing was addition by subtraction, paving the way for KP to play the 5 and Melo at PF. I'm not confident that Baker is the answer as the starting SG but play him there until it stops working. We need to finish out the month playing at least .500 ball and then take that momentum into the rest of the season.


This win over the Celtricks explains a lot bout the Knicks as a team ..
The win over the Celtrics are based on the performance of 7 Knicks bench-players receiving 20 minutes playing-time in the rotation. This is the first time in the season we allowed 4 of our bench-players to receive 20 minutes in a game. YES! we have good depth on our bench which we hasn't used until tonight in the season.

The teams that know us the best are the Atlantic Division Celtricks n Raptors always know our Knicks scouting-report for the game like the back of their hand.
Our OFFENSE scouting report is mainly based on 3 players performance averaging 44% fga .. Rose/Melo/KP .. because on any given night 2 of these players will receive a 40 minute night.
Our Knicks DEFENSE-scouting-report are we allow opponents 107 points per game this season.

Baker is far from being a starter .. we just needed a change in our backcourt .. Baker n Rose gave us 2 combo-guards in the backcourt to confuse Isiiah Thomas. B+ strategy
Adding Big-Body rookie Plumlee to the rotation to make space in the paint for 20 minute, plus adding our rookie rebounder Willy for 20 minute too .. lifted the Knicks performance to scoring 55 points, 16 assist, and grabbing 35 rebounds from our bench depth. The Knicks out-rebounded Celtricks 57-33 .. A+ strategy

I will keep mentioning the Knicks are not a small-ball team .. the Knicks are a .600 regular-season winning BIG-MAN team .. having frontcourt players Noah/KP/Quinn/Willy/Plumlee plus keeping Melo n Kuz at the SF position throughout the rotation.
 
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