I feel like maybe the Knicks should change their starting line-up walk-out jam to I’m only gonna break your heart . As a huge NYK fan, my heart has broken a bit more eveeeery single time we have played the Celtics this season. I think I can speak for the majority of Knick fans when I say that I have this never-ending hope that MAYBE just maybe we will pull off the dramatic win in the final seconds. I’m so over watching the Celtic fans at the NYC bars be the ones who get to scream and shout come the final buzzer. IIII want to the be one screaming and shouting, dang it.
BRICKS.
The goal of this trade was to get to the play-offs, was it not?
Right.
So, please explain to me how 2 of our makeshift ‘big three’ are on the bench during a playoff series against the Boston Celtics. A ‘sore knee,’ Billups? Really? My best friend in college played ball on a FULLY TORN ACL. Back spasms, Amare? Really? My back was spasming during my coed, rinky-dink, pick-up soccer game 2 weeks ago. What is this nonsense? Don’t get me wrong, I understand the severity of injuries…when they’re sever. MAYBE I could have understood Billups sitting out game 2 but truly believe he should have finished up game 1. I MAYBE I could have understood Amare sitting out ONE quarter of game 2 but not the entire game. MAN UP. You’re professional, grown-ass men. Even ‘Big-Baby’ found it in him to get up after nearly crushing those floor seat fans. He could have complained of a sore bum but nope, that large dude showed Scarlet how to really deal with a tumble..he got riiight back on the court.
Melo was a one man show last night. Everyone praised him and I totally understand why… that was an all-star performance. However, this is what we paid for, this is what we traded for. We ‘needed’ an all-star and so we gave up good, young, talent for one. It was annoying to read blogs last night and facebook posts/tweets/morse code signals/faxes/texts/g-chat statuses referencing what a great idea this trade was when on Sunday night when Melo was nowhere to be found and wasn’t the ‘closer’ he’s known to be, no one had anyyyything to say about the trade. The truth of the matter is that we CAN compete with the Celtics. We have shown that we can hang with them both in the regular season and in the playoffs. In order to actually BEAT the Celtics, every single New York Knick needs to show up. We can’t have 2 of our 3 big guys on the bench with injuries. We can’t have D’Antoni giving Melo the ball in the final seconds of a game and Melo putting up the most ridiculous, unnecessary shot. We can’t have Jeffries turning over the ball in the final play of the game. We need every single player making shots, hitting the boards, playing d, moving the ball around, getting tips in, being vocal. We need it all. We need it all because that’s what teams like the Celtics bring to every game they play.
BUCKETS
We played our little hearts out despite 2 key players being MIA. Everyone managed to contribute in their own way and this will help the bench become more and more confident if and when they are called upon again throughout the play-offs. It was easy to see nerves were in play from the first 2 free-throws of the game until the last turnover of the game. I do believe we will see more of the youngins and that they will begin to contribute more. Let’s get em.
Melo proved that he could bounce back from a not-so-hot game one performance. He put up some filthy play-off stats. Let’s get him to be a bit more consistent and his supporting cast back and we’re in.