Recapping Celtics-Knicks

(Keith Allison)


By: Greg Payne

96-82 Celtics.

First half thoughts:

• Well the offensive is rather stagnant for both teams...27.9 percent shooting for New York...35.7 percent shooting for Boston.

• Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins are all looking good. Paul Pierce is struggling a little bit right now along with Rajon Rondo. KG's sporting six points and five rebounds at the half.

• Technically the defense is lights out, based on New York's shooting percentage. However, I'm beginning to think it's more the Knicks just missing shots than it is us forcing them to miss shots.
  

• I'm disappointed with the overall execution on both ends of the floor right now. With the team we have and the veterans we have, I'm expecting some pretty consistent execution throughout the season. Granted, it's only the second preseason game, but if the coaches and players are going to state how they're focused on getting better as a team, they can start by following through all on their sets.

• I was hoping to see a few more "tweener" jump shots out of Marquis Daniels, but so far he's missed both of his attempts. I think those shots will be his most effective this season, but so far, nothing's dropping for him tonight.

• No signs of Lester Hudson, J.R. Giddens, Mike Sweetney, Shelden Williams or Brian Scalabrine yet. We'll probably see these guys in the fourth quarter.

• Tony Allen's back. I think I've shaken my head five times already, most prominently with 9:41 left in the second quarter. TA went up and under the rim and seemed undecided between shooting a reverse layup and dishing the ball to Daniels. He decided to shoot and the ball bounced off the underside of the backboard. He's making me regret writing my "I believe in Tony Allen" piece.
  

• 9 turnovers so far? We should probably try and cut those down...

Second half thoughts:

• The second unit looked very, very good late in the third quarter and into the fourth. Rasheed got hot from deep and finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Awesome night from 'Sheed. The second unit definitely seems to have a lot of pride and can't be taken lightly by any opponent.
  

• KG finished strong with 10 points and eight rebounds. He played 22 minutes tonight...about 10 more than Wednesday night. He looked fluid and strong, especially on the boards. All good signs.
  

• Paul Pierce ignited the crowd with a reverse slam off a Wallace outlet pass with 3:02 left in the third. Pierce rarely dunks, so that was exciting to see. He finished with nine points tonight.
  

• You can't stop Brian Scalabrine, you can only hope to contain him!
  

• Kendrick Perkins looked great tonight with 14 points and seven rebounds. Realistically, we could see a double-double out of Perk every night this season.

• I'm still not seeing all I want to out of Rondo. Granted, it's the second game of preseason, but after the reports came out that he had the best camp out of anyone, I expected him to really show me something from the get go.

• Lester Hudson looked solid again in the few minutes he played.
  

• Unfortunately J.R. Giddens didn't do much again. His minutes were cut and his only bright spot was an assist to Scal with 3:44 left.