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Gameday Dish: Celtics vs. Knicks
April 17 by Leave a Comment
The New York Knicks welcome their Atlantic Division rival the Boston Celtics to Madison Square Garden tonight. The Beanteamers, 36-25, are poised to clinch their fifth straight Division Title while New York at 31-29 is fighting hard to stave off the Milwaukee Bucks for the final postseason spot in the Eastern Conference.
These two longtime foes met in the first round of the 2011 NBA playoffs with the C’s dispatching the Knicks 4-love for the only sweep of the league’s eight first round series. This year these sides have met three times already with the Celts winning twice in Boston and the Knicks holding off the Green in Manhattan on Christmas Day, the NBA’s lockout shortened season’s opening day.
All three contests were extremely close. Twice the final differential was just 2 points, and the last time they met on March 4th in Boston coach Doc Rivers’ guys prevailed by 4 in OT. In that contest C’s PG Rajon Rondo had a triple-double for the ages: 18 points, 17 boards and 20 dimes.
The Celtics last played on Sunday against the woeful Bobcats in Charlotte. They won 94-82 playing without their Big 3 of Garnett, Pierce and Allen. After beating the Nets on Saturday night in Jersey, Doc Rivers decided to rest Garnett and Pierce against Charlotte and left them in NYC to await tonight’s important 48. Allen missed his 4th straight game with a sore ankle, but may be available tonight.
The Knickerbockers last played on Sunday afternoon against the Miami Heat on national television. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were too much for the banged up Knicks and got the W, 93-85. In the loss Carmelo Anthony had 42 points, 9 boards and 5 dimes. With Amar’e Stoudemire out for his 11th straight game and Linsanity gone for the season, Melo has been carrying the scoring load, averaging 31.7 ppg in April.
Also of concern for coach Mike Woodson is C Tyson Chandler’s health. The probable Defensive Player of the Year hurt his knee in the thired quarter of Sunday’s game. He is expected to suit up tonight, but may be limited in his movement and on-court effectiveness.
New York will need Chandler and others to help on Rondo, who is playing like a man possessed lately. The 6th-year Kentucky Wildcat has dished for double digit dimes in 22 straight games. It’s the longest such streak in 20 seasons. He joins HOF’ers John Stockton and Magic Johnson as the only players with 10 assists in 20 straight games.
Tune in tonight at 8:00 PM ET to TNT to watch the Knicks and Celts battle for the final time this season.
Fratello Telestrator
April 6 by Leave a Comment
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Gameday Dish: Knicks vs. Magic
April 5 by Leave a Comment
The Orlando Magic have lost four games in a row and have fallen in the standings to 5th in the East at 32-22. Second leading scorer PF Ryan Anderson (sprained right ankle) has already been ruled out of tonight’s contest against the New York Knicks, and All-NBA C Dwight Howard (back spasms) and PG Jameer Nelson (sore left calf) will be game time decisions.
For the proverbial cherry on top of this bad news sundae, head coach Stan Van Gundy announced to news reporters today around noon that his sources within Magic management confirmed the speculation that the 3X reigning Defensive Player of the Year Howard wants Van Gundy fired.
Into this central Florida swirl of injury and uncertainty come the East’s current 8th-seed New York Knicks at 27-27. The Knicks know a little something about key players getting hurt and exiting coaches. Former NY head coach Mike D’Antoni resigned on March 14th as his squad was mired in a six game swoon and his players began shutting him out.
New head coach Mike Woodson has gone 9-3 since he took over, but the Knicks have dropped 2 of their last 3. They’ve also lost starting PG Jeremy Lin for the remainder of the year, and starting PF Amare Stoudemire will be out for at least another week with a bad back.
New York last played on Tuesday at Indiana where they were outscored 40-17 in the fourth quarter and lost 112-104. The Knicks only real go-to guy now is Carmelo Anthony, who drained a season-high 39 in the defeat. With the loss, Spike Lee’s guys are a weak 9-17 away from MSG. In addition, new starting lead guard Baron Davis is playing with a troublesome pulled left hamstring and appears to be ailing and ineffectual.
Orlando last played and lost on Tuesday in Detroit, 102-95. With no Howard, no Nelson and no Anderson, the Magic didn’t have enough to best the 19-33 Pistons. In fact, Orlando allowed the Motor City ballers to shoot 56.6% from the field. It was an opponent best against the Magic this compacted season. The one good piece of news for O-Town was replacement C Glen Davis scoring a career-high 31 points.
Tied up at one win apiece in the season series, tonight’s 48 will be the third and final time these two sides square off in the regular 66. Both teams need a ‘W’ to get back on track and to keep from unraveling down the backstretch. Orlando has to stop their skid, and New York must maintain their perilous position in the Eastern Conference standings to snag the last playoff spot.
Tune in to TNT at 7:00 PM ET to see who will rise to the occasion as this grinding season nears completion.
Fratello’s Fantasy Pick: Iman Shumpert
April 2 by 1 Comment
New York Knick Jarred Jeffries has described rookie teammate Iman Shumpert as “about as good an on-ball defender as there is in the league right now.” 21-year-old, 6’5” Shumpert will get many more opportunities to display both his defensive and offensive talents now that Madison Square Garden is Linsanity-less after it was discovered that PG Lin has a meniscus tear in his knee.
With 6X All-Star Amare Stoudemire out for at least the rest of the regular season due to a bulging disk in his back, the Knicks’ near-future success will depend on increased production from Shumpert, especially scoring.
The Knicks currently sit in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference at 27-26, 2.5 games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks for the last playoff spot. With the 32-year-old, oft-injured PG Baron Davis now in the starting 1-guard spot after having missed the first 32 games of this compacted season, there’s a good chance he’ll have to play limited minutes to avoid re-injuring himself. This probable scenario would give Shumpert even more court time and production.
In fact, Shumpert led NY in minutes played in their last game. Since Jeremy Lin prematurely ended his season four games ago, Shumpert’s playing time has tracked at 35, 32, 41 and 39 minutes, much higher than his season average of 28 mpg. He has scored 11, 25, 25 and 10 in these four contests and averaged 2.5 steals per game. Shumpert’s back-to-back 25-point games set and then tied his career high. His season average of 9.8 ppg will surely rise based on this sample and the overall team circumstances.
Shumpert is just a rookie, but he has been learning and improving in the 24/7 hoops cauldron that is New York City and MSG. With added run, this one-time Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket will be in position to fill up the stat sheet. In fact, in his last year playing for the Ramblin Wreck, Shumpert led his team in scoring, rebounds and assists.
As the Knicks finish out their regular season schedule with the 13 remaining games, Iman Shumpert will be a key and fruitful part of their push to the postseason.
