| The Beantown Massacre Authored by Matthew Gordon - November 30, 2007 - 9:21 pm
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The Knicks and Celtics are a perfect contrast. In management, the Knicks have been remarkably horrific, stringing together a series of trades and a record well below .500 with only one playoff whimper since Isiah Thomas’s arrival. Boston’s Danny Ainge has been cautious, adding young pieces around Paul Pierce, before breaking the bank this past summer on two of the greatest players of our time. In terms of media snafus, the Knicks lead the league by a wide margin, highlighted by Stephon Marbury’s incoherent rambling and Thomas’s sexual harassment suit. The Celtics have nothing to say on that front except that their three stars are constantly smiling for the cameras.
Where the resplendent and the opprobrious are most obvious is on the court. The Celtics’ 104-59 shellacking of the Knicks was one of the biggest slaughters in recent memory and for all the reasons that make fans of fundamental basketball swoon. Kevin Garnett was sacrificing his scoring to get his teammates involved, Ray Allen was being his usual efficient self and the bench stepped in where necessary. The Knicks were a polar opposite, playing selfishly and amassing more turnovers than assists. Marbury’s four-point, one-assist performance was likely the worst of his career.
There are many games where statistics don’t tell the whole story but in this one, they really do. Eddie House was 5-for-6 from three-point land, part of a team-wide 12-for-22 downtown scorch-fest. Glen Davis secured as many rebounds (6) and dished as many assists (1) as both Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry combined, and Davis outscored the duo 13-8. The Knicks’ starting lineup had a combined plus-minus of -147.
The impact of this game on the Knicks won’t be tough to decipher. It was an utter demoralization on so many levels, for virtually everyone within the organization. Someday, when the Knicks are contenders again, people will deny that this ever happened. In the interim, it could be that one final event that spells the end for Isiah Thomas and about two-thirds of the Knicks roster.
What isn’t quite so simple is why this is such an important game for the Celtics. Popular opinion would seem to tend toward vilifying the pathetic losers, pointing to a lackluster offence and a porous defense. Bad as they are, the Knicks had won two straight going into this contest. The answer for the Knicks’ poor play is that the Celtics are just that good.
The Celtics can take three big things from this game to use as a template in later ones: that their key young players are learning effectively, the related conclusion that the superstars can be rested every so often, and faith in what’s being established as a pulverizing defense.
Kendrick Perkins is a player who, upon being drafted four years ago, was too young and too raw to make an immediate impact. In his time on the bench, he’s taken chances to watch what’s been happening, practice hard and get into shape. Playing as Garnett’s sidekick, he’s been flourishing; the way the Celtics’ three stars can divert the attention of opposing defenses has enabled Perkins to generate easy lay-up opportunities, resulting in a sparkling 61.2% shooting. He’s also been averaging a career-best 1.7 blocks, including three against New York in less than nineteen minutes. His lack of progress in rebounding can be directly attributed to Garnett, who remains among the league’s leaders.
Rajon Rondo has come alive this year. With many experts worrying about how the Celtics would fill in the starting lineup other than with the three stars, Rondo’s tailored his game to complement them. Deferring when necessary (i.e. most of the time) and making good on every open shot his teammates can get him, Rondo’s seen an astronomic increase in his field-goal percentage, which was a concern to many scouts before he was taken in the 2006 draft. His increase from 41.8% to 52.3% has removed him from his old reputation as a player who can’t shoot and forced teams to put a man on him, risking additional punishment from Allen. His assists have also risen from 3.8 to 5.4 this season, including seven against the Knicks, and he’s averaging almost a steal per turnover.
Happy as they are with their youth, the Celtics realize that their two best youngsters usually have to play with the superstars. It’s when the bench takes the court that things get interesting, with many of the players either being inexperienced or needing Allen and Pierce to create their shots while Garnett covers them on defense. One encouraging thing about the Knicks game was that only one player played thirty or more minutes, and it was Glen Davis. Garnett played twenty-three minutes, and Allen and Pierce both played twenty-nine. Compared to their season averages of 37.1, 39.5 and 38.3 minutes respectively, each player received a significant rest, especially considering their minutes were loading toward the front of the game. One of the biggest worries facing this Celtics team is whether its best players will be fresh and if they can keep playing the kind of fundamental basketball that destroyed the Knicks, they sure will be.
As for the Celtics’ defense, which has already put together some impressive contests, none can outstrip this one. Randolph and Curry combined to shoot 3-for-21. No Knicks player hit more than four shots in the entire game. Nate Robinson’s desperation three in the game’s dying seconds not only saved the Knicks from franchise-low scoring futility but also ensured that at least one Knick player would finish the game with double-figures. It also allowed to the Knicks to be able to say they finished the game at 30% shooting.
There have been very few games in NBA history wherein one team has played so well defensively, compounding another team’s existing offensive woes. The Celtics and Knicks are just that different though. One’s a success story for the ages and the other’s a laughingstock. One’s a group of talented, committed players with heart, and the other’s full of lazy, overpaid, selfish has-beens. One executes properly, the other jacks up wild shots and watches forlornly as they fall into the other team’s hands. It was a nationally-televised game featuring the best of the NBA against the worst, and it lived up to its billing. |
