Listen, we all have a bad day (or night) at work or just a crappy 24 hours overall. One of the infinite differences between us and professional athletes is that when they have a tough time on the job, it can be seen live and in color by a worldwide audience. This afternoon was one of those head-scratching occasions as the Knicks (6-8 overall, 4-4 road) came to TD Garden on a five-game losing streak and they promptly destroyed the Celtics (8-4 overall, 4-2 home) 105-75. For real, that occurred. Ironically, the C's had come in riding a five-game winning streak and I am pretty confident that this will be their biggest stinkbomb of 2021. Yes, they will play poorly many more times and lose their share of contests but given the mediocre at best competition and the way that they had been playing lately, it's hard to fathom a more unexplainable no-show than this.
It started out as a promising Sunday morning when Boston confirmed that point guard Kemba Walker (9 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 5 turnovers in 20 minutes) would return to game action for the first time this season. Seeing him not look completely comfortable was expected (he was 3-for-13 from the field including a woeful 1-for-8 on 3s) but watching his teammates brick shot after shot was the stunning part. As a team, the Celts shot 29.8% from the field and 15.2% (7-for-46) on three-pointers which are a pair of percentages that you rarely ever witness in an NBA game. For everything that Boston did wrong, New York looked like a contender in the Eastern Conference for a brief moment.
The Knicks outscored the Celtics in every quarter including by 11 in the first (28-17) and 12 in the third (27-15). When New York built a big lead right away, you figured that an even more impressive answer was imminent by Boston except that it never even came close to actually happening. Head coach Tom Thibodeau's motley crew of misfits that will have to scrape by just to make the playoffs this spring were up 48-35 at halftime and they cruised from there with their highest scoring frame in the fourth (30-25) in the most smelly of garbage time at the Garden.
There wasn't one particular player that went crazy statistically for the Knicks but they had five guys score in double-figures led by power forward Julius Randle (20 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals). Second-year shooting guard RJ Barrett (last year's No. 3 overall pick) added 19 points, 11 rebounds and two steals while journeyman small forward Reggie Bullock put up 11 points and seven rebounds. Two rookies (both 1st round picks) for New York were good off the bench as well: shooting guard Immanuel Quickley (17 points, 8 assists) scored 17+ points for the third game in a row and power forward Obi Toppin notched 12 points and five rebounds.
For the Celtics, star forward Jayson Tatum and center Robert Williams still remain out due to Covid-19 and their team looked completely lost without them, not that they probably would have made that much of a difference today. Shooting guard Jaylen Brown (25 points, 6 rebounds) got his requisite numbers but guard Marcus Smart (10 points, 2 steals) was the only other Celtic to reach double-figures but his hardly counts since he went a brutal 4-for-15 from the field including 0-for-7 on three-pointers. Whenever Tatum returns, Smart will go back to the bench where he belongs (as the very valuable 6th man) with Kemba rightfully starting in his place.
The only real good news to come out of this turd burger for the Celtics is that last time I checked, it only counted as one loss. I don't expect this to have any long-term ramifications but I guess we'll have to wait and note how they perform the next time out: on Wednesday (7, NBC Sports Boston) at Philadelphia (9-5). It's a two-game set with Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center with another matchup on Friday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston). The Sixers have suffered through their own Coronavirus outbreak but before that, they were playing great under new head coach Doc Rivers. Hey, I remember that guy! It'll be the first time that these rivals will meet since Boston swept them with ease in the first round of the bubble playoffs last year.
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