A quick glance at the box score makes it look like the Boston Celtics are turning things around against the New York Knicks while slowly digging out of a 3-0 hole, but it’s really just a lack of effort by New York in this series.
What? A lack of effort by a team with Carmelo Anthony on the roster? No, that can’t be right.
The Knicks stood around on Wednesday night and wasted half the game by watching Melo dribble out the shot clock and then jack up ill-advised shots. Anthony went 8 for 24 in the game and that makes him 18 for 58 in his last two, both losses that have allowed the Celtics to sniff history. Add in a double-double from Kevin Garnett and a vintage performance from Jason Terry and Boston has a shot to come back in this series. The Celtics have all the momentum and now they’re going back home for Game 6.
In their latest embarrassing loss, the Knicks “ran” isolation “plays” 27 percent of the time, according to ESPN. That’s almost triple the league average! And they wonder why they couldn’t score! If you watch the highlight reel, you’ll see Anthony just dribbling and dribbling near the arch and then hoisting up bricks that gave the Celtics’ players big boosts in their rebounding totals. Needless to say, if the Knicks don’t change things soon, they might be the first team to lost a playoff series after going up 3-0.
