It was interesting to hear Knicks swingman Quentin Richardson’s comments on ESPN Radio before their game with the Celtics. He basically said that the Celtics were just a three man team, and made it sound like the Knicks were about to roll into Boston and take names.
Dude, don’t talk smack when you suck. The Knicks did outscore three Celtic players in the first half 31-22. But only outscoring three players by nine, probably ‘aint gonna cut it. Oh, wait, he meant the Big Three of Pierce, Garnett, and Allen…they outscored Rajon Rondo (10), Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis (6), and Eddie House (6) by that count. The Knicks could only outscore these three, a second year guy, a rookie and a utility player, by nine and nobody is confusing this trio with the Big Three.
The New York Knicks are the worst franchise in all of professional sports, led by Isiah Thomas who I can’t believe it still employed. The noteworthy things he has done since his playing days, have mostly been negative. He has made poor moves and acted unprofessionally along the way. He gave up the #2 overall pick for Eddie Curry and caused the franchise millions of dollars because of the sexual abuse law suit against him. But he did pick up seven year veteran Jerome James. What? You’ve never heard of him? Either you need to brush up on your NBA or the Knicks need to fire Isiah. (By the way, Jerome James went to Florida A&M and has played sporadically over seven years; he has averaged 1.5 more points per game than fouls per game in his NBA career.)
In the second half against the Celtics, the Knicks were down 82-41 and almost got doubled up, which has only happened once in NBA history (Pacers 124, Blazers 59 on 2/27/98). It was like the Celtics were the Patriots - running up the score that is. Up 47, Eddie House pulled up for, and drained a three-pointer that gave the C’s a 50 point lead; the Knicks would go down by as many as 52 points. The Boston fans, who had been out of the game since the second quarter, were brought back to life as they realized just how big the lead was. Richardson did hit a desperation three at the buzzer from mid-court to help the Knicks avoid an all time low in points, but losing 104-59 has gotta hurt.
The Knicks are in deep trouble. They have cap issues and are overpaying for guys that are now untradable because nobody else would give them that kind of money. There is no immediate solution and while their opponent on this night, the Celtics, improved vastly just over one year, it seems that the Knicks are in a free fall and are still getting worse before they start to get better. If that’s possible.
-Jesse Jones