running commentary...vol2

so that didn't go according to plan...

basketball season is over now that the Knicks have fallen to the Celtics in a 4-0 sweep. the best team won, there is no question of that, but that won't tell the tale...

a little Vegas officiating in game 1 turned a 1 point lead to a 2 point loss and a nice comeback, smothered by a floating charge in game 4 removed any chance the Knicks had of making this look respectable in the series box score...

positives? Chauncey Billups got hurt on a (non-call?) contact play but game 1 was the still Knicks' contest. hopefully the Celtics took the officiating crew out for dinner afterwards, in lieu of the 'Melo call and Garnett moving pick miss, but it was losing Billups that took away the ability to run a cohesive last shot offense in both games 1 and 2. The team played admirably without Billups and Amare Stoudemire in Game 2 and Carmelo Anthony showed us something that Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari will never be able to do, I'm not sure what happened in Game 3 or the for better part of game 4 but they were in it in the last five minutes or less in 3 of 4 in this series and that says a lot...

negatives? i'm not sure why D'Antoni kept Landry Fields out there in game 3 when Anthony Carter consistently gave him good minutes all series long. Fields had an awful series. He's a rookie, its fine. watch the film and get back in the gym. however, staying with fields, along with Jefferies on the court while the ship was taking on water left the Knicks playing 3 on 5 on the offensive end. it was poor management and D'Antoni has to answer for that...

29 games. that's the sum total of the Knicks after the 'Melo trade. listen, they were going to have to be healthy and clicking on all cylinders to win this series. losing the first two the way they did led to the sluggish start in game 3, and there is no excuse for that after 2 days rest, and D'Antoni has to answer for that, but he gets a pass on defense, because i think this team proved they know how to clamp down. i think they found a nice player off the bench in Shawne Williams and Ronny Turiaf certainly showed his worth. i think they resign Carter. but this team is missing a piece. a rebounder, defender and enforcer. a 30-minute a game bruiser that will make teams weep...

i am worried about what little Jimmy Dolan will do about the management. a return of Isiah Thomas could very well put this team back in salary cap hock. short of that, re-upping Donnie Walsh's option is a primary step in the right direction. another draft like the team had last year, this time with a first rounder and the kind of signing that shores us up on the glass and in toughness is step 2. D'Antoni is most definitely on the hot seat for 2012. i fully expect this team, with a few tweaks, to have home court for the first round of the playoffs at least, and challenge a Celtic team that might not have a coach or some of their unrestricted free agents for the division title next season...

the clock starts tonight, get to work...